A New Era
by ChildOfWrittenProphecy
Summary: After the war Ichigo and Grimmjow live together happily. They enjoy their married years living in Karakura town, but their next adventure is about to begin. They live a new life with their new daughter, but little do they know she will become the greatest threat to the world of the living and the Soul Society. How will they cope when their biggest threat is one they created?
1. A New Generation

A New Generation

Ichigo and Grimmjow could not have been happier with the life they lived. Upon being married for 7 years and living in Karakura town what more could the couple ask for? They lived in peace with the soul society and with Hueco Mundo on the rebuilding path the two seemed to live a carefree lifestyle. After the first year of their marriage the Soul Society had unanimously decided to promote Ichigo to a captain, which was indeed a well deserved honor for the substitute soul reaper, but he had refused the offer unless Grimmjow was inducted into the ranks as his own lieutenant. Grimmjow had played off the idea arguing that he did not want to conform to follow the Soul Society's orders, but after long discussions and weeks of arguing back and forth the two had agreed that this would be their best option to both be happy and not have to resort to having day jobs in the world of the living.

But why not live in the Soul Society then you ask? Well to put it simply the couple had a one year old daughter. She was born nine months after the couple was married, almost to the day. The Soul Society had been very skeptical of the couple and how it was managed that Ichigo could even have children. Urahara had done extensive research through out all of Ichigo's pregnancy and had learned that Ichigo's hollow genetics had a significant mutation to allow his genes to be passed on. Meaning that being a beta had allowed for Ichigo's body to mutate and carry a baby much to Grimmjow and Ichigo's excitement. The couple was very frightened at first, and thought of everything their child could be, how much power would this child possess, and would this child even be remotely human since it was carried through Ichigo's hollow half? As the pregnancy went, Urahara found that the child possessed absolutely no powers, much to everyone's surprise, some not even able to believe it, but upon the arrival of their daughter they found zero traces of spirit energy around her. This child left everyone baffled and astounded that the offspring of two of the most powerful soldiers would possess no traces of spiritual energy. Urahara surmised that because of the elaborate mixture of soul energy (soul reaper, hollow, human, quincy, arrancar) that everything ended up canceling the others out leaving the child a complete human, and so they named her Kyler. What skepticism the Soul Society had against the couple and their offspring diminished since they no longer had to worry about controlling the repercussions of having a child of unknown power live.

The new family decided to stay in Karakura town where everyone could keep an eye on their daughter as she grew to live a normal human life. Ichigo and Grimmjow had decided to not tell her about their powers or their jobs in the Soul Society, the couple felt their daughter would be happier without knowing about a world that she could not be apart of, and she would be safer from future enemies who would use her has leverage against Ichigo and Grimmjow. The first year had been very rough considering the two had no idea how to take care of their newborn baby girl. Luckily Isshin, Karin, and Yuzu had been more than grateful to help however they could, from feeding to diaper changing to babysitting. Many members of the Soul Society would often visit the precious little girl whenever they could. Everyone was simply enraptured that a precious girl could be born from two testosterone raging nimrods. Ichigo and Grimmjow were very different people when it came to taking care of their daughter, both loved her with everything they had and were more protective of her than they were with their own lives. It left many of their friends baffled, but everyone saw that Grimm and Ichigo were model parents. Now of course when it came to fulfilling their duties among the Soul Society they were still just as much knuckleheads as ever. The two were constantly at each other's throats arguing over who won their fight yesterday and who would win today. Their constant bickering was truly their way of letting the other know how much they really cared. In reality after each fight the two would be so filled with lust at how the other looked with tattered clothes and sweat covering every inch of their bodies, it was a wonder they didn't have more than one kid.

As the terrible two's rolled around their daughter had blossomed into a trouble maker much like her parents. Grimm and Ichigo had a hard time keeping up with her and keeping her out of trouble. Kyler had grown blue hair perfectly matching Grimm, or blue as Kyler liked to call him, and golden eyes that matched Ichigo's hollow half. Her sun kissed skin made everyone believe she would be a real heart breaker when she came to her teen years, which made both parents pale at the thought of their daughter bringing home boys. Ichigo and Grimm began to notice all the things their daughter did that seemed a little out of place for a toddler. She was reading already rather easily and spent most her time doing so. She also seemed to comprehend everything people said to her, now whether she really listened was a different story. Urahara visited often and thoroughly enjoyed his time with her playing puzzles and examining her development.

"My, my I say Ichigo. Your daughter has quite the intellect if you ask me." Urahara retorted after Ichigo had taken her to bed at her usual time.

"Yes I know Kyler is smart, she's my daughter what did you expect?" Ichigo responded quickly.

"That's not what I mean my dear Ichigo," Urahara gazed at some of his notes he had taken over the past few months while being around Kyler. He sat at the table reading over results and observations he had carefully calculated and examined several times.

"What do you mean then Urahara? I'm happy she's smart it makes me think I'll have to worry less as she gets older." Ichigo sighed while fixing himself a hot cup of tea. The hour was only nine and he knew if Grimm was to come home from his duties in the Soul Society on time, they would have a good few hours to have some fun before having to get a decent amount of sleep to be able to function tomorrow. As it were the Soul Society had been generous enough that either Grimm or Ichigo could stay home with Kyler while the other performed their duties for the Soul Society. It helped make things easier and with everybody be it Urahara, Isshin, Byakuya, Renji, Rukia, Orehime, even Ulquiorra would come buy just to play with Kyler. She truly was a miracle that brought all of them together.

"I mean Kyler is well beyond a level of genius," Urahara said holding up his notes to peak over at Ichigo. Ichigo glanced over from the stove top to see whether or not hat and clogs was trying to make some kind of joke. He didn't appear any different than usual making Ichigo believe that he was indeed telling the truth. Ichigo turned from the stove top leaning against the edge of the counter crossing one leg casually. He closed his eyes to let out a sigh as he ran is right hand through his hair while the left rested on his hip.

"Should I be worried about that? I think that is amazing, since she doesn't have any spiritual power," he paused as he opened his eyes bringing his arms to cross in front of his chest. _Geeze Grimmjow, when are you going to get here, you need to be here to hear this too._ "I don't understand, you seem to be a little worried about this?"

Urahara started to gather up his notes and put them into a small briefcase he had begun to carry whenever he came to visit the Kurosaki-Jaegerjaquez home. "For the time being, no, it just means that you will have to keep coming up with creative ways to keep her mind busy. She is very intuitive but even at this young age, I can tell you she's going to be even more of a handful the older she gets." He chuckled to himself as he stood from the table and headed towards the door. As he reached for the handle to let himself out, he turned to look at Ichigo who had followed into the small entryway to let his guest out. "I really am impressed at how great of a family you three really are. Kyler is going to be an amazing young lady if you guys can keep up with her," he smiled as he opened the door to leave. "That little girl is precious to all of us you know, and I'm very happy you two have her."

Ichigo gave him a sideways smirk, "I know that, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world." Urahara let out a small huff of a laugh as he headed out into the night back to his little shop.

After their guest had left Ichigo returned to the kitchen to pour his cup of tea, but after a quick thought decided he would have himself a beer instead. Turning off the stove and walking over to the refrigerator he grabbed a beer and walked into the living room. Plopping himself onto the rather large couch and turning on the tv to watch some boring sitcom while he waited for Grimmjow to return. _Genius huh, well I'll just have to wait and see what Grimmjow thinks about this._ He chuckled to himself and gulped on his beer. He wasn't left in the living room very long when he sensed Grimm's spiritual pressure coming up to the front door.

Grimmjow opened the door to his small home tired, but excited to finally have some alone time with his strawberry. Soul Society kept both of them busy nonstop with mediocre demands and lots of paperwork over crap he could really care less about. In absolute truth all he wanted to do was come home play with his sweet baby girl and love on his incredibly sexy strawberry. Urahara had long ago developed him and a few of the former espada gigai's that allowed them to have human bodies so he could live in the world of the living, and the others could visit whenever they felt like. He locked the front door and slipped his shoes off before walking into the kitchen to grab himself a beer and sit with one of the love's of his life.

He sat next to Ichigo popping the lid off his beer and sipping on it while looking at the tv not really caring to pay attention to what was actually being played from it. It wasn't too long before Ichigo rolled over to sit on top of Grimmjow, straddling his legs and leaning down to kiss him. Their lips connected into a rather soft kiss that was just a tease for what they both knew was going to happen. Ichigo moaned softly into the kiss pulling away just enough to give him room to talk.

"Did you miss me?" he whispered playfully to Grimm all the while staring lustfully into his eyes just begging to be carried up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Oh you're about to find out just how much I missed you today," Grimmjow playfully purred back setting his drink on the little tray on the edge of the couch as both his hands moved to message the sexy ass that just so happened to be placed in his lap. There lips connected again with more vigor as Ichigo ran his hands through Grimm's hair pulling playfully wanting more. Ichigo let out small moans into Grimmjow's mouth as Grimm would in return give off sexy growls of approval to their tongues maneuvering back and forth. They pulled apart only when they both could no longer go without breathing. Ichigo moved to get off Grimmjow and head upstairs, but Grimmjow held Ichigo firmly in place and let out a displeased growl, which only made Ichigo chuckle.

"Come on you crazy panther, let's get upstairs before I have my way with you right here on the couch." Ichigo stated in a rough voice that only made Grimmjow more ok with that idea than dragging them both upstairs, but seeing that they both had agreed to keep the fucking to the bedroom to not scare Kyler if she ever walked in. They both could just imagine how that image would go down.

"Fine let's go." Grimm growled into Ichigo's mouth as he picked him up with himself in one swift motion. He carried Ichigo around his waist all the way up the stairs and to the bedroom. Once the door was closed it was like the gates to the Kentucky derby had been opened and both thoroughbreds were right out the gate. Ichigo ripped Grimm's t-shirt from his chest in one swift motion while he continued to dominate Grimmjow's mouth. Grimmjow was always surprised when his berry became really aggressive with him and challenged his dominance. It was one of the many reasons Grimmjow was completely obsessed with the man from the beginning, his outbursts of dominance kept him on his toes and always challenged him to do better. They had their times when they would switch roles because that's just how dominant both their personalities were but for the most part is was Grimmjow who would win out the majority of the time, and this time would be no different. As Ichigo's hands traveled over his toned abs and played with is nipples making them hard, Grimmjow let his berry down to stand on his own while he grabbed both side of Ichigo's head and pulled him tight to his mouth to show him his display of dominance. His teeth bit down on Ichigo's lower lip then gently gliding his tongue across before diving into the heated cavern as Ichigo moaned louder into his own mouth making heat from his stomach drive down to his groin making him realized that his jeans were becoming extremely tight really fast.

Ichigo pulled away so Grimmjow could remove his shirt then they were back at molesting each other's mouth while their hands glided over washboard abs, perk nipples, and toned back muscles. Grimmjow thrust himself against Ichigo grinding their constricted erections together causing them both to make more animalistic sounds than human. They hadn't even made it to the bed yet and Ichigo felt like he might just explode from the pleasure he was experiencing! That's when Ichigo decided to guide Grimm to their king size bed against the opposite wall from the door that sat in the middle with a nightstand on each side that each had a lamp resting on them. Their bed sat below a large window that viewed the small backyard and the night sky that was filled with visible stars this evening. Grimmjow shoved Ichigo back onto the bed while he crawled on top of him his knees straddling Ichigo while one hand held himself up while the other rubbed at Ichigo's restricted erection. Ichigo threw his head back and arched his back moaning loudly.

"Grimmjow! Stop teasing me!" He practically growled out the words and glared into is lovers cyan eyes that had darkened into a deep blue of lust.

"But it's so fun to watch you squirm beneath me," Grimmjow purred out the words loving how his berry practically melted beneath his touch. Ichigo took the opportunity while Grimmjow was purring out his words to mimic Grimmjow and rub against his erection which made Grimm's breathe hitch and he growled at the pleasure his love was giving him. They both couldn't tease each other any longer and simultaneously decided they were still wearing too much clothing. They both unzipped the others jeans and pulled both pants and briefs off in one quick motion. Each took a second to gaze at the other in all their glory. Ichigo still couldn't believe that this walking god of sex could be called his, while Grimmjow admired the perfect body below him that never seemed to deplete his yearning for. They once again connected their mouths and began with a new vigor that had risen upon seeing the other completely naked. Grimmjow reached to one of the nightstands by the bed that had a small bottle of lube and he quickly coated three of his fingers with the slick substance. Grimm disconnected their mouths as he kissed and licked to sexy body below him working is way down to the dripping erection as Ichigo's breathing hitched with anticipation of what was to come. Once Grimmjow had made his way down he took a slow long lick from the base to the tip of the straining shaft, he lapped up the seeping precum just before drawing the head into his mouth while pushing one finger gently into the tight entrance. Ichigo moaned while arching his back into the pleasure Grimm was subjecting him to. As Ichigo's body relaxed Grimm entered a second finger and began scissoring and stretching the tight space every once in a while grazing over that oh so precious spot that made Ichigo grab at his hair pulling harshly only making him that much harder. He worked his head up and down the straining member making Ichigo rile a sweaty mess beneath him. Once he had worked in a third finger Ichigo had decided he had had enough.

"Grimmjow you better…ahh…get inside me right now or…ahh…I'll come in that sinful mouth of yours!" Ichigo moaned out which caused Grimm to hum in pleasure. Grimm slipped his fingers from Ichigo and once again grabbed the lube from the nightstand and generously applied the liquid to his straining member that Grimmjow swore could get no harder, crap he was so close just from all the noises Ichigo had been making. He removed his mouth from Ichigo's member and brought himself up to face Ichigo. He lined himself up and gradually pushed himself inside Ichigo's tight entrance.

"Holy crap Ichi!" Grimmjow let out a loud moan of pleasure at the tight heat that surrounded him and Ichigo did the same pulling he legs up to allow Grimm to penetrate deeper.

"Grimm…MOVE!" Ichigo growled out at him which he quickly responded throwing away any sense of restraint as he pulled himself from the extreme heat only to snap his hips back inside causing Ichigo to have a mixture of screams and moans that nearly sent Grimmjow over the edge growling in pure pleasure. Grimm filled Ichigo hitting his prostate dead on every single thrust. Ichigo's senses were on overload at the sounds of skin slapping into one another, his and Grimmjow's erratic breathing mixed with moans and animal-like grunts. He wouldn't hold out much longer, Ichigo grabbed at Grimmjow's hair and pulled him into one last searing kiss before he was sent over the edge the heat from his groin exploding across them both as his back arched and he screamed out Grimmjow's name. Grimmjow could not hold himself together any longer his straining member had lasted longer than he thought he could, but when Ichigo's walls tightened around him screaming his name in pure ecstasy, Grimmjow exploded inside Ichigo with an animalistic growl saying Ichigo's name. He thrust a few more times making sure to empty himself completely before pulling out and collapsing beside his berry in exhaustion.

They both laid there panting harshly for minutes just waiting to gather up the strength to get out of bed and shower. Ichigo was the first one up, he pulled himself out of the bed and headed to the bathroom to shower before falling asleep with Grimm laying peacefully next to him. After they had both showered they climbed back into the bed removing the blanket that was most definitely dirty, and laid beside one another not quite ready to sleep, even though they both knew they would need their energy for another busy day tomorrow. Now that they had both cleared their system enough to not want to fuck the other in the middle of the conversation, Ichigo remembered to tell Grimmjow what Urahara had told him earlier that evening.

"Hey Grimm there's something I wanted to tell you that Urahara told me this evening." Ichigo casually stated glancing over to his husband to see if he would even be interested in hearing this tonight.

"Hmm what's that?" Grimm casually asked with his eyes closed as he laid there with his arms relaxed underneath his head.

"Well I know we've both noticed that Kyler seems to be doing some things that are a little more advanced than your average two year old."

"Yeah what about it?" Grimmjow said trying to sound casual but Ichigo could sense the bit of concern that had creeped into his voice.

"Urahara has been keeping tabs on her whenever he comes over partly for research and partly to make sure she doesn't somehow develop spiritual pressure randomly without us knowing…anyways he said that he believes Kyler to be at an intellectual level above genius all ready." Ichigo started to ramble a bit never taking his eyes from Grimmjow to see how he would react. Grimm slowly removed his hands from underneath his head and slowly sat up in the bed and turned his head to Ichigo opening his eyes.

"What does that mean? And how did he come to that result?" Grimmjow stated curiously looking at Ichigo to make sure this wasn't some late night joke.

"Well apparently he does puzzles and things with her that test her intellect, which she enjoys and completes rather quickly." Grimmjow laid back down on the bed and relaxed, he looked either relieved or just simply annoyed. Ichigo wasn't quiet sure which yet.

"Hmph so you're saying that my daughter is going to be some computer geek or something…huh…well guess that means I can sleep easier knowing boys won't care to flirt with her as badly as I thought. Does she need glasses?" He huffed at that question.

"What I don't know, doubt it? What's wrong with her being smart? Just because she's smart doesn't mean she's not going to be beautiful." Ichigo was offended at the tone Grimm had chosen and his words seem to be poking fun at his own kid.

"Oh she'll always be beautiful but boys don't find smart girls sexy," he stated mater-of-factly.

"Grimm I'm not worried about that right now, I'm worried about how we're going to deal with her."

"What do you mean by that?" Grimmjow looked at Ichigo quizzically he wasn't sure where this conversation was going, sure he noticed Kyler could read well and understand people better than any toddler he'd ever seen, but of course Grimmjow was new to that department and didn't know what to expect and no amount of parenting books and constant advice really prepared him for it.

"I mean how are we going to keep up with her, she's just like us in the trouble-maker department, and if she's as smart as Urahara is letting on I don't know how we're going to manage raising her." Ichigo looked at Grimmjow with a worried expression as if Grimmjow was supposed to know all the answers to this. Crap he knew this was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done, geez he had no idea how to raise a kid. He loved Kyler more than anything and he would do anything for her, he just didn't know what to do.

Grimmjow looked at Ichigo and a small smile set across his lips. He sat up once again on the bed and turned to face Ichigo. He gently placed both hands on each side of Ichigo's face forcing him to look at him and only him when he said this.

"Look we are both completely new to this parenting thing and it scares you that we're going to mess up, shit it scares me too, but that's no reason for us to completely panic and think we're completely incompetent. Our little girl is going to be an amazing person and we're going to raise her as best as we know how. I look at her everyday and see her smiling and laughing and running up to me…and she hugs me like I am the greatest human being that ever existed" he sighed, "I don't know what I did to deserve you let alone the little angel that me and you have the privilege to parent, but I won't let anything happen to her. We need to take this one day at a time, so she's going to be extremely smart…well that will make our days all the more interesting…just don't forget about everybody else that is here to support us." He pulled Ichigo close and planted a gentle kiss on his lips, and as he felt Ichigo relax in his hands and his eyes soften as he had spoken he finished his monologue, "I love this family we have and I wouldn't trade if for the world…we'll make this work no matter what gets thrown our way."

He let go of Ichigo and laid down with Ichigo wrapping an arm around him to comfort him as they both gently dozed off into wonderful dreams thinking how life couldn't get much better than this.

 **XXX**

And that's how the days went by for everyone. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years. Kyler had turned 4 this past winter and her parents had decided to enroll her in school for the following fall. She kept both of them on their toes constantly causing all sorts of mischief like sticking snakes in blue and orange's bed (which they were not happy about), or sticking a few extra ingredients into to dinner to make both blue and orange's work go down the drain and result to take out. Although Kyler got her share of scoldings in truth blue and orange enjoyed every minute they spent with her. Trips to the bookstores became a weekly ritual since Kyler managed to read any books they got her within the week. The simple everyday tasks like grocery shopping became a family outing that they all enjoyed. They would spend their evenings playing candy land laughing at Grimm's frustration at losing while Ichigo and Kyler celebrated with slices of cake.

Grimm and Ichigo had discussed over the course of the summer to both go to the Soul Society during the day while Kyler was in school, and if either of them could not make it back in time Isshin would watch her until they returned. Isshin was more than happy to do so claiming that he didn't get to spend enough time with his grand daughter and fawn over her like a good grandpa should. Kyler didn't seem to mind at all, she understood rather well how both blue and orange had to work and that as much as she wanted them too, they couldn't be with her all the time. Gathering school supplies for her first day had been rather fun for the three of them picking out crayons, markers, and all the other typical supplies she would need. Mostly their shopping consisted of her and Grimmjow running around picking up all the really colorful things and turning to Ichigo asking if they could buy it. Ichigo would simply shake his head in exasperation at how childish Grimmjow could be when it came to doing stuff like this, but then he would always remember this is just as much Grimmjow's first time school supply shopping as it was for their daughter.

The night before Kyler's first day off school had consisted of her running around all excited and nervous at the thought of getting to go to school. Urahara had always told her about it and she was more than excited that she was finally old enough to start. Grimmjow ran around chasing her, trying to get her to listen while he attempted to teach a little bit of self defense, you know in case any of the other kids decided to pick on her. Kyler finally ran up to him and jumped into his arms knocking him back into the recliner that sat in the living room next to the couch.

"Blue don't worry I'll be alright," she giggled while hugging him extremely tight, "besides I can tell them how my daddy would come kick their butts if they picked on me." Grimmjow looked down at his daughter while she sat in his lap hugging him so tightly he thought she'd never let go. Then he simply smirked at her when she finally let go to look at him.

"Yeah you better believe I will if any of that happens," he laughed taking his turn to hug her back before he would take her to bed. "Alright go tell Orange goodnight it's time for you to go to bed so you can be ready for tomorrow." She looked up at him a new wave of excitement flashing through her golden eyes as she jumped off his lap and ran over to the couch to hug Ichigo. She crawled up into his lap after he set down the book he was reading opening his arms to hug her tightly.

"Goodnight Orange," she said squeezing him tightly into a hug, "I love you."

Ichigo squeezed his daughter back kissing her head contemplating actually just letting her sleep with them tonight so he could enjoy having her close. "Goodnight sweetheart, I love you too. Now head up to bed with Blue you've got a big day tomorrow." He smiled at her letting her down so she could head up to her room for Grimmjow to tuck her into the bed. She ran upstairs followed by Grimmjow who let her crawl into the twin sized bed that sat in the corner of her little room that was covered with all the books she had read. They were all stacked into piles around the edges of the room, the bookshelf they had made for her had been completely filled within a couple weeks. There were plans to build a bookshelf that covered one of the walls of her bedroom but neither Grimmjow or Ichigo had had the time to make it for her yet. Grimmjow sat down on the edge of the bed and tucked her in gently before kissing her on the forehead.

"I love you sweet girl, now get some sleep."

"I love you too Blue." She said as Grimmjow turned off the little desk lamp beside her bed. She rolled onto her side and gently nodded off. Her entire room came to life with glowing stars all over the walls and ceiling of her room, she had placed them herself saying how much she wanted to sleep under the stars. When he and Ichigo first saw it, it had completely blown them away, what was even more astounding was after Urahara came into see it he noticed constellations all over the room realizing she had accurately painted the entire night sky of Karakura town within her bedroom. Kyler never ceased to amaze him, she was just a daddy's girl that way. He walked out of the room and quietly shut the door behind him and he made his way back downstairs.

The next morning had been a bustle of excitement with Kyler jumping into the bed with them at six in the morning smiling and laughing like it was Christmas morning.

"Come on you guys wake up, today is my first day of school!" She yelled at them, both rolled over groaning for five more minutes to which she giggled and jumped off the bed pulling the covers off with her. Both parents sat up a little angry about that as they watched Kyler run out of the room yelling if they wouldn't get out of bed she would have to make her own breakfast. Hearing that shot both of them out of the bed and running downstairs after her. The last time Kyler was in the kitchen by herself she caught the stove on fire nearly setting the entire kitchen in flames, since then Grimmjow or Ichigo had to keep a cautious eye on her when she moved into the kitchen. Grimmjow relented to making chocolate chip waffles for all of them served with some bacon and scrambled eggs. Kyler had her usual glass of chocolate milk for her breakfast beverage while both Ichigo and Grimmjow sat with large cups of coffee. After they all finished their breakfast they all got dressed and met back downstairs. Grimmjow had put on a nice pair of dark blue jeans with a button up white shirt and light gray blazer, he finished off the outfit with a pair of white converse to play down the dressiness of the outfit. Ichigo decided to wear a pair of washed out gray jeans with a red long sleeve button up shirt, he wore a black vest to match his own pair of black converse. They both waited downstairs for Kyler to finish getting ready.

"So this is what it's like to wait on a woman," Grimmjow stated to Ichigo while they both sat on the couch in the living room.

"I would not classify Kyler as a woman just yet there Grimm," Ichigo retorted. He sighed while watching the tv announce this weeks weather, "Kyler come on, you better hurry up or you're going to be late!" He shouted.

"Coming!" They heard her yell followed by the sound of footsteps running down the stairs, when she finally made it, they both turned to admire how much their little girl had grown up. She wore here own pair of blue jeans with a light pink three-quarter sleeve shirt that had larger sleeves as was the style now days for girls. She had her own little white converse that matched Grimmjow's and she looked absolutely adorable. Her hair was down but she held out a brush and hair tie to Ichigo. "Will you put my hair in a ponytail for me?"

Ichigo smiled at her and waved for her to come stand in front of him while he put her hair up. The past year had been a real struggle when she had asked either of them to fix her hair, both knew a few things but neither of them actually knew how to put her hair up correctly which always resorted to anything from rubber bands to zip ties holding up her hair, and not looking very good for that matter. Rukia and Orehime hadn't laughed so hard in all their lives when they had come over to see it. After a number of lessons Ichigo was becoming more comfortable with ponytails and loose braids, but Grimmjow had been deemed a lost cause in that department. He finished tying up her ponytail and let her run to the door to grab her full backpack. She had bangs that were just too short to reach her ponytail and luck be it those bangs spiked like Ichigo's hair did.

"Come on slow pokes let's go!" She yelled back to them.

"Ha, it's not like we were waiting on you the past ten minutes or anything," Grimmjow stated to her as he followed her with Ichigo in tow behind him. All Ichigo could do was laugh as his family began the walk to Kyler's new school.

Kyler's school was just a couple blocks from their house so they didn't mind the walk to take her, plus they got to spend a little bit more time with her before she would be gone for the day. The emotional attachment still surprised both of them at times, they would miss their little girl so much even just being gone for a day. There were times when one of them would have to be gone for a week or more at a time and that time frame seemed like an eternity without her. Neither Grimmjow or Ichigo understood how deep their attachment was to their daughter, at times it scared them, but they knew that Kyler loved them just as much in return and that always made them want to come home to have her jumping into their arms.

When they arrived at the building Kyler was so excited she looked like she might just wet her pants, which made both Ichigo and Grimmjow laugh. They walked into the building looking for her classroom, when they found it her new teacher stood outside the door greeting each new student that passed through her door. Her name was Miss Allison, or so she introduced herself as when shaking both parents' hands.

"You must be Kyler, I am so excited to have you in my class. Go in and pick any available seat you like dear." She gestured her arm through the open door and Kyler squealed in delight She turned around and gave both Ichigo and Grimmjow a hug and ran into the classroom.

"Well she certainly doesn't have any problem leaving us for school huh." Ichigo stated as he looked at Grimmjow who was staring at the small cluster of kids who were already talking with Kyler. They both thanked Miss Allison and took their leave to head to the soul society.

"No she certainly doesn't, and I already don't like how popular she was within ten seconds of being there." Grimmjow retorted in an annoyed tone making Ichigo snicker.

"At least we don't have to worry about her not making any friends," he chuckled. "Now come on, we have a lot of work to get done if we want to be back here to pick her up from her first day." Ichigo said making Grimmjow hurry after him. As soon as they made it to Urahara's shop they shed their bodies and headed for the soul society.

When they returned to pick her up Kyler was glowing with happiness, she talked the entire way home about all the friends she made how she really liked Miss Allison…" She was talking almost to the point of gibberish as Ichigo and Grimmjow listened intently. When they sat down to dinner Kyler turned the tables and asked them about how their day went. They both prattled on about having boring desk jobs with lots of paperwork and how they would much rather hear about her day than talk about theirs.

"Ok but one day will you take me to work with you, I'd like to see what it is my parents do," she giggled as Ichigo and Grimmjow looked at her curiously.

"Maybe one day sweet heart we'll take you work with us," Ichigo stated light heartedly, "but what made you interested about it all of a sudden?"

"Well I listened to everybody tell me what their parents jobs were when I realized I don't really know for sure what you guys do. I know it causes you guys to disappear for a while sometimes, but I've just never bothered to ask." She looked down at her food starting to play with the little pieces of spaghetti she had left on her plate.

"Don't worry Kyler I'll show you what me and Orange do one day, for now all you need to know is we work for a corporate marketing firm." Grimmjow smiled at her rubbing her head messing up her hair.

"Ok then!" She smiled back at both of them.

 **XXX**

A couple more years passed as Kyler began to take more advanced classes that even Ichigo and Grimmjow couldn't even understand. After her first month at school Ichigo and Grimmjow had been called in to a parent teacher conference to discuss some decisions with Kyler's education. Miss Allison along with the principle were curious if both Grimmjow and Ichigo would be ok with Kyler being a part of a small advanced class that would help further her education at a much faster pace than if she stayed in her regular class.

"She already seems to be bored with everything that I am teaching and she's always sleeping because her mind is just too bored with the material." Miss Allison had discussed at length, while the principle nodded his agreement with everything she was saying.

"What all will this class be doing?" Grimmjow asked rather intrigued at the thought of his daughter being considered gifted even among human standards.

"Well they will have their own teacher and classroom that will push their knowledge. By what I can tell your daughter is already easily at a middle school level, and with a bit of a proper instruction she will pass high school level rather quickly." Miss Allison stated rather bluntly.

"How many students will be in this class with her?" Ichigo asked.

"There are four more students within this elementary school that are deemed to be at a high enough standard to join this class, but to be perfectly honest Kyler is the most intelligent."

"We would be more than happy to have Kyler placed in this class, as long as she is happy." Grimmjow stated flatly.

From then on Kyler had come home everyday with books of homework and projects to keep her mind busy as much as possible. At age 6 she had dissected an old computer and pieced together a new circuit board. Now at age 7 she spent most of her time at the kitchen table studying over Physics and Calculus books that just ended up confusing both Ichigo and Grimmjow, so they elected to leave her alone when she had her homework out. In spite of all the work that kept Kyler busy, the three of them still spent plenty of time together. Their weekly ritual to the bookstore had not ceased and it was still one of their favorite things to do as a family. Grimmjow and Ichigo could not have been more proud of their little girl when they watched her work out problems so easily that neither of them could even comprehend.

Ulquiorra visited more frequently to help Kyler with her homework, he really enjoyed their conversations together because she was a bookworm like him, and she had a quiet disposition that accompanied her nature to watch and observe everything around her. Ulqui became his nickname since Kyler didn't like to say his full name all the time. Ichigo and Grimmjow had been completely surprised when they found the ex-espada smiling in the middle of a conversation with her, and when they confronted him about it he simply said Kyler had mentioned about hearing Blue and Orange wrestling on most nights while she read books before falling asleep.

"Kyler said that even though you guys sound like your dying in there you always seem happier in the mornings," Ulquiorra had laughed just thinking about how Kyler had told him about it, and it made it even better watching both Ichigo and Grimmjow's faces go completely white as their faces drained of all the blood. After that both blue and orange had gone and sound proofed their room to keep that from happening again.

The few weeks before the school break for Christmas Kyler became quieter than normal. At first Ichigo and Grimmjow had thought it was because they hadn't sound proofed their room enough, but whenever they asked her about it she shook her head in disagreement. Kyler wouldn't talk about whatever it was that was bothering her and blue and orange started to worry, it just wasn't like her to not come to them and talk to either of them about things. She spent long hours in the recliner reading book after book, and when her eyes strained from the extensive reading she would sit out in the backyard just gazing up into the sky deep in some thought that neither parent understood. When she went and came home from school she ignored her homework (which was completely unlike her), and choose to keep herself in her room. After two weeks without a real smile spreading across her face Grimmjow and Ichigo decided that they had had enough. They sat Kyler down at the kitchen table and asker her straight out, they would get to the bottom of this whether she liked it or not.

"Kyler what is going on with you?" Ichigo asked in a concerned voice. Kyler simply sat there in silence waiting to see if they would truly push the agenda or allow her silence to keep them from the having this conversation.

"You have to talk to us Kyler, we want to know what is going on." Grimmjow stated in an annoyed tone. He did not like the fact one bit that she had strayed from her usual cheerfulness to this quiet somber attitude.

"It's nothing." She stated flatly not picking her head up to look at them.

"Bull crap it's nothing you either tell us what is going on or I take your books away." Grimmjow stated in an angry tone his temper was going up and if she kept ignoring them he was going to lose it. Ichigo just sat their looking at his daughter truly wondering what could be bothering her this much.

"Alright…do you believe in other worlds outside our own?" She quietly asked keeping her head down. Well that question was certainly a surprise. Both Grimmjow and Ichigo looked at each other a little bit in shock.

"Where did this question come from?" Ichigo asked quietly. _Has she somehow learned what he and Grimm both are? No that's impossible, there is nothing either of tus have done to make her curious about something like this._

"I was reading some books and came across a religious belief that there are soul reapers who guide souls into the after life…I was curious if either of you believed such a thing and whether or not you think I should?" She peaked her eyes up through her bangs to chance a glance at her parents, then returned her gaze to the table. Surprisingly though it was Grimmjow who was the one to answer her question.

"Kyler…" he sighed as he turned to look at her when he answered. "You're asking a question most people don't even bother to think about until they've gone out on their own…truth be told it sometimes scares me how intelligent you are…but let me tell you how I see it, but in truth that is something you must decide for yourself…I don't really believe in greater beings out there or that there would ever be a place for people to go after they have died, but now that I have you…and Ichigo…I can't imagine there not being a better place for you to go after this…so in some ways you've made a believer out of me…in truth I just want us all to be together for as long as possible…you choose to believe what you want regardless of what others may say…if it is something you believe with no regrets then believe it and screw what anybody else would tell you otherwise." He didn't know if she would understand completely what he was saying, but if he did acknowledge the soul society to his daughter then more and more curiosity would come pestering him so he settled for a half hearted answer to what she truly wanted, but in truth he had no idea what she had wanted to hear from them. Kyler kept quite for what was an unbearable amount of time, they both thought they might buckle under the uneasiness that weighed down the room. After what seemed like forever Kyler looked up at both of them and a heart warming smile spread across her face.

"Thanks blue, that actually turned out to be exactly what I needed to here."

Both parents sighed with relief (they just dodged a bullet there) and the three of them watched a movie before heading to bed.

 **XXX**

After Christmas break a new school term began and and Kyler made the familiar walk with Grimmjow and Ichigo on either side of her. They dropped her off as they usually did right outside the entrance to the school courtyard. She hugged both of them tightly gave each a kiss on the cheek and said I love you before heading inside the building. Ichigo and Grimmjow smiled as they watched her go inside and as they turned to leave little did they know that would be the last time either of them would see their precious little girl…

 **Hi everyone, thank you for reading this it is the first chapter of what I feel is going to be a very long story. I have a lot of ideas for this and I really hope to hear lots of feedback (it is all very helpful so please do). Please let me know any thoughts whether is be spelling and grammar to storyline. Hope you enjoyed and again thanks for reading! I will update the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	2. A Despair Like No Other

_After Christmas break a new school term began and and Kyler made the familiar walk with Grimmjow and Ichigo on either side of her. They dropped her off as they usually did right outside the entrance to the school courtyard. She hugged both of them tightly gave each a kiss on the cheek and said I love you before heading inside the building. Ichigo and Grimmjow smiled as they watched her go inside and as they turned to leave little did they know that would be the last time either of them would see their precious little girl…_

A Despair Like No Other

The soul society remained it's usual self with new souls coming in to the outer ring while soul reapers continued their duties in the center capital. Ichigo and Grimmjow performed their usual duties inside squad 12's barracks. Ichigo had taken over squad 12 when Shunsui retired and moved to Central 46 along with Ukitake. Most work consisted of filling out paperwork and training new recruits, but they both found time to speak with most of their friends. Renji had been promoted to squad 13's captain with Rukia as his lieutenant, they had been together almost as long as Ichigo and Grimmjow.

Ichigo and Grimmjow walked around the Seireitei enjoying their morning rounds and talking about typical work when they bumped into Renji and Rukia.

"Hey you two love birds what's up?" Ichigo waved at the two as they approached not enjoying the view of their not so discrete displays of affection. Renji had his arm over Rukia's shoulders while she had her arms wrapped around his waste in the form of a sideways hug as they walked. If there wasn't such a height difference between the two they would probably just make out as they walked.

"Oh hey Ichigo, Grimmjow, we're just taking a break before we head to the world of the living to do a check up on some recruits. Apparently there are quite a few hollows giving them fits, and of course they can't seem to handle it." Renji snickered as he scratched the back of his head with the arm that wasn't draped around Rukia. Rukia just did a glaze over both Ichigo and Grimmjow as she let go of Renji to put her hands on her hips.

"And what are you two up to, ignoring your duties as usual I presume. How's Kyler by the way I haven't had the time to stop by and see her, I hope she's still in one piece." A sideways smirk covered her face as she finished her questions just waiting for Grimmjow to snarl back at her that he was the best dad, even Kyler thought so.

"We are actually going to do some training since we are ignoring our work, might as well do something productive while we're at it." Ichigo stated light heartedly as he looked over to Grimmjow who was glaring daggers at Rukia for the last comment she made. Honestly these two never have quite settled their differences, they have learned to tolerate each other, but only because Ichigo would have nothing to do with either of them if they didn't behave, he hated having to see people he cared about argue especially if what they argued over was basically nothing, which it always was. They probably just enjoyed playing with each other's nerves all the time.

"Kyler just so happens to be doing great, she's top of her class without any competition except for one kid, she mentions him as her competition but from what I've seen he's got nothin' on her, right Ichi?" Grimmjow didn't hesitate to pick up right where Ichigo had left off since Rukia had been so nice to ask them about her. He crossed his arms over his chest and put his nose into the air all triumphant trying to play alpha in front of them, until Ichigo elbowed him in the stomach to which he grabbed his right hand to his stomach and put the left on Ichigo's should for support while he made a couple coughs to get his air back.

"What was that for?" he said looking over to Ichigo for some sort of explanation, as Rukia covered her mouth to laugh and Renji just stared at both of them with a mild curiosity. He would never say it, but he was impressed by both of them being able to be parents as well as shinigami, they had a rough start with it, but they learned fast and were now pretty good at finding a balance between the Soul Society and the world of the living.

Meanwhile Ichigo just looked at Grimmjow with a look of slight annoyance. "Oh no reason, just don't want your ego getting any bigger than it already is, whether it comes to you or our daughter." He sighed closing his eyes and turning back to face Rukia and Renji.

"Aww is someone a little jealous I don't brag about him too? Don't worry Ichi everybody knows how powerful you are so my words don't mean anything. Really the only thing everybody doesn't know about you is how good you are in bed." Grimmjow slid his arm around Ichigo's torso and playfully let the words purr into Ichigo's ear making it turn a shade of red. Grimmjow snickered at how easily he could make his berry get all embarrassed, it was always fun. He slid his tongue across Ichigo's ear and down his neck where he planted a small kiss. He would have continued his musings if Renji hadn't coughed trying to get his attention.

"Well if you are quite finished with your display of affection there is something I wanted to ask you, I hadn't heard anything about it and was curious if you guys had." Renji stated matter of factly as he watched Grimmjow remove his arm from Ichigo's torso and stand to full attention.

"Alright pineapple, what do you want to know?" Grimmjow asked obviously annoyed that he had been interrupted from loving on his strawberry. Ichigo just looked at Renji curiously, but slightly relieved that he'd pulled Grimmjow's attention away from him, since he was getting turned on by Grimmjow's playful gesture and had barely contained a small moan from escaping his lips.

"Well apparently the Seireitei is doing some excavations underneath the capital, I have looked into what it is for but I haven't been met with many answers, there's talk that it is going to be continued wings to Central 46, but as far as I knew they had more than enough room before. I don't know, something there doesn't seem to add up to me, I was just wondering if you guys had heard anything about it." Renji stated casually keeping his tone from getting too serious, in truth he didn't think much of it, but something just didn't add up about it.

"Yeah I've heard that it is going to be some extra barracks and training grounds, but other than that I have not been told a whole lot either, it doesn't seem completely out of the blue, I do think some changes need to be made in the capital and this remodel seems like a good way to start." Ichigo said with mild interest, this was indeed something he had thought needed some upgrades, so when he had heard about it he didn't think too much of it.

"I guess you're right about that." Renji shrugged his shoulders and looked down to Rukia who gave him a small smile as if saying I told you so. He sighed and shook his head from his thoughts as he looked back to Ichigo and Grimmjow who were standing there looking at each other as if having a private conversation. "Well we had better get back to work I guess, and you two better get back to ignoring your duties." He chuckled as he and Rukia began walking again towards the squad 13 barracks.

"Alright see you guys later!" Ichigo turned and waved as they walked on. Him and Grimmjow walked around the capital enjoying the sunlight and the fresh air when another shinigami ran up to them and held out a small scroll to Ichigo. He thanked him and then unravelled the parchment as Grimmjow peered over his shoulder.

"Hmm, looks like Yamamoto wants us to do a check up in Hueco Mundo, I guess we'll be paying Starrk and Ulquiorra a visit." Ichigo peered over his shoulder to see Grimm's reaction to that, he didn't mind going to Hueco Mundo, but it didn't mean he liked it either. Grimmjow just sighed and closed his eyes as he ran a hand through his untamed hair allowing the few strands to fall back in front of his face as his hand traveled down the back of his neck to rest at the base.

"I guess we don't have a choice," but then he opened his eyes as that trademark cocky grin split across his face, "but that also means you and me can have a good fight now." Grimmjow glared as he waited for Ichigo to come up with a response.

"What, you that eager to get your ass handed to you again?" Ichigo gave him a devilish smile of his own as he turned from Grimmjow to open the Garganta. Ichigo had learned to use it years ago and it was easier to use when just him and Grimmjow needed to go places.

"You only win because I let you, can't have your ego breaking, cause then I would have to put up with your pouting." Grimm retorted back as they stepped through and began the run to Hueco Mundo.

 **XXX**

Hueco Mundo hadn't really changed much since the war against Aizen. Now days things returned to usual with hollows killing and eating each other to gain power. The arrancar that were left alive worked with the soul society to keep the number of hollows in check so that the balance between all three realms remained intact. Starrk, Ulquiorra, and Nel kept track of the numbers and monitoring the hollow population, needless to say it wasn't particularly anybody's dream job and that's why the three of them spent more time in the land of the living than in Hueco Mundo, plus with Ichigo, Grimmjow, and Kyler living in Karakura Town that just gave them all the more reason to visit the land of the living. As Grimmjow and Ichigo stepped onto the desert sands, they are met with distant memories of their most famous battle that ultimately bound the two together. They gazed out to the never ending sand dunes reminiscing how so much has changed since then, and who would have thought what would happen to them. Grimmjow let out a long sigh as he continued his gazing over the white sand.

"You know ten years ago, if anybody had told me I was gonna marry you and have a kid, I probably would have killed them for being completely psychotic."

Ichigo chuckled at his statement thinking almost the exact same thing. "Same could be said for me, although I might not have killed them for thinking me and you could get together, but the idea of me having a kid of my own would have thrown me for a loop." He paused as he turned to admire Grimmjow as he stood looking out into the distance somehow completely lost in thought. "You know, I miss you being shirtless underneath that jacket." He said smirking at Grimmjow, a comment like that would certainly pull him from wherever his mind had been wondering off to.

Grimmjow slowly turned to face him with a psychotic smile covering his face as he snickered back, "Oh yeah, well can't have any of the girls staring, I am taken you know, plus I had to get some form of black into my stupid lieutenant outfit otherwise Yamamoto would have tried to kill me on the spot."

"Well you're not wrong." Ichigo laughed as he drew Zangetsu. Grimmjow drew Pantera from his belt, both readied themselves glad that no one was around for miles so they could have at each other without being disturbed.

 **XXX**

Ichigo had Grimmjow laying flat in the sands barely holding him off with Pantera blocking Zangetsu as both of their breaths came eratic and exhausted. Their chests heaved trying to fill with oxygen to supply their cramping muscles. Neither had fought this hard in a long time, sure they had fought each other on occasion but never truly tested the limits of their new abilities as they've continued to grow and get stronger. Sweat covered their bodies from the strain, who would win this fight, sure Ichigo had the upper hand, but he was just as exhausted as Grimmjow and he knew it. As they both stared at the other panting, their determination to win unwavering, Grimmjow chose that moment to play his final card to ensure his victory. He brought his left hand to the back of Ichigo's head and pulled him down into a searing kiss. It was sloppy, sweaty, and probably one of the best kisses he'd shared with the man. Ichigo's resolve faltered just enough that Grimmjow maneuvered his sword to fling both Pantera and Zangetsu into the sand where Ichigo's smaller blade had already fallen. Ichigo moaned and pulled away from Grimmjow's kiss and looked down into Grimmjow's cocky smile.

"That's cheating," he breathed out harshly, but what was done was done and Ichigo was going to make the most of Grimmjow's idea to play dirty.

"Yeah, but you don't seem to mind." Grimmjow chuckled. Ichigo planted another kiss onto Grimmjow's lips and used the lower half of his body to slowly grind against Grimmjow's. The adrenaline and excitement from fighting had already made both of them rock hard, now it was just a matter of taking care of it. They both let out moans at the connection between their groins and Grimmjow moved his right hand to release both of their arousals from confinement. Ichigo let out an excited breath as his dick sprung free first, leaking with precum and just begging to be touched. Not even two second later Grimmjow's arousal sprung free leaking it's own precum and slid across Ichigo's. A shiver went all the way down Ichigo's spine from the unintended friction as he moved from playing with Grimmjow's tongue to licking and kissing the sweaty skin of Grimmjow's face and neck. He worked his way down and had just gotten to the base of his neck when Grimm grabbed both their erections and slid his hand up and down both. Ichigo's immediate reaction was to bite his lip, but since he was busy enjoying Grimmjow's neck he ended up biting down harshly on the man resulting in an appreciatively sexy growl from the blue haired sex god.

Grimmjow's hand slid up and down both their dicks causing both of them to buck their hips into each other at the shear amount of pleasure both of them were feeling. As if their erratic breathing could be strained any more, now they were moaning and growling with sharp intakes of breathe that only turned the other on even more on. Their leaking erections made Grimmjow's hand slide easily across their lengths, Grimm's slightly larger than Ichigo's but no more harder and as Ichigo came back up to kiss Grimmjow's lips their tongues dancing in between the hot caverns. Grimm squeezed harder as he pulled across them causing both to go over the edge squirting all over their stomachs. Ichigo's arms spasmed refusing to hold him on top of Grimmjow any longer.

He let out a moan of exhaustion and rolled over collapsing beside Grimmjow breathing all that more ragged as he laid in the desert sand. Grimmjow's breathing wasn't any better and he held his eyes closed trying to gain some form of control over his body.

"Well…should I count this as my win…or maybe…a tie?" He managed to get out through several breathes.

"Ha…you…wish…you cheated, asshole." Ichigo whispered unable to muster any real force behind the words as he laid there staring up at a starless sky. After several minutes of both of them trying to recover enough to move, Grimmjow removed his black shirt and they both used it to wipe themselves clean before standing up and walking towards the destroyed canopy of Las Noches.

 **XXX**

Las Noches had almost been completely destroyed after Aizen's defeat, but the remaining Arrancar in the end had decided to simply destroy the caste and rebuild for their own needs leaving the canopy completely intact. Starrk and Ulquiorra hadn't been particularly picky, basically just asking for a place Ulquiorra could bring books back he found in the world of the living and very comfortable furniture so Starrk could sleep no matter where they decided to meet. Nel was doing her best to accommodate for them while she went crazy in the design and build of a small castle that would perfectly fit them. Although they were still building, the main areas had been finished to allow the soul reapers a place to discuss matters whenever they came to check in. She had even worked with Urahara on a device that could sense and count hollows from great distances making their jobs even easier.

Ichigo and Grimmjow arrived an hour after their fight giving themselves plenty of time to recover and look somewhat presentable in front of the three. They entered a grand atrium with a twenty foot ceiling and corinthian styled pillars spaced at every 10 feet. There were 5 foot tall clear windows all around the top half of the walls allowing for plenty of light into the space. The ceiling formed a ribbed vault style that created a sort of organized spider webbing that created different forms of refracted light around the room. It was immaculate to behold and Nel thoroughly enjoyed everyone's open mouthed gaping whenever they stepped into the room. Off of the main atrium beginning at 25 feet were sets of archways that led to different corridors that held either smaller meeting rooms or each Arrancar's own private suites. Unfortunately none of them had been willing to show anyone what each looked like, but if they were all as well designed as the main entryway then they were certainly something to admire.

Grimmjow and Ichigo stood in the entryway for a good 15 minutes before Nel came running from one of the suites near the back of the atrium.

"ICHIGO!" She screamed as she ran jumping on him almost completely knocking him to the ground, luckily he had braced himself just in time to catch her before they could tumble to the black marble floor. She squeezed him tightly before letting go and taking a step back to admire him and chance a sideways glance to Grimmjow who was standing off to the side with a bored expression on his face. "Hey Grimm nice to see you too." She stated casually clearly not nearly as interested in seeing him as she was Ichigo.

"Hey Nel, how've you been? We've been sent by Yamamoto to check in with you guys." Ichigo said happily, glad that she had been the one to great them and not Starrk or Ulquiorra. Neither of them would have been happy to see them much less give them the information they needed quickly so they could get out of there and head home to pick up Kyler.

"We've all been great here thanks for asking Ichi," she gave him a small smile before gesturing for them to follow her. "Yamamoto sent you huh, well there really isn't much to report from a month ago when he sent the last group, just same old, same old…we have had a slight influx of new hollows coming in but nothing that seems report worthy." She stated as they walked to the room at the end of the atrium that housed the device that kept track of hollows, it was a computer like device laid out across several feet of table top buttons with an equally long screen that acted like sonar plotting current location as well as the location of other hollows. Urahara really knew what he was doing, had to give him credit for that.

"Yeah I didn't think there would be much to report, but orders are orders so we had to come by. By the way where is Starrk and Ulquiorra?" Ichigo asked looking around the space for any sign of them. Grimmjow just kept the same bored expression he had since they first walked into the building, of course now that he'd gotten what he wanted from coming here, he was just counting down the seconds until they got to head back home.

"Oh those two, well Starrk is sleeping in his suite, as usual, and Ulquiorra is often hunting hollows, he was bored out of his mind hanging out around here." She giggled and then handed them a few parchments with the hollow count on them to take back to the soul society. "You know you could stand to visit us a lot more Ichi," she said crossing her arms and shifting her wait to one foot.

"I'm sorry Nel, but I am kept plenty busy with the soul society and Kyler. I will try to make a point to visit more often." He said with a smile on his face as he started to itch for the chance to get out of there, drop off these notes, and head on home. He stared at her unwavering gaze just waiting for him to falter when the badge in his pocket began to vibrate and ring like some red alert alarm. He fished it as his pocket as both Grimmjow and Nel stared at him with an interested curiousness covering their features. He held out the badge and pushed a small button Urahara had installed on the device to be able to communicate with him from the world of the living no matter which realm Ichigo himself was in.

"What's up hat and clogs, you never contact me on here?" Ichigo stated wondering what in the world could be going on that Urahara would have to contact him on this device.

"Ichigo is Grimmjow with you?" He asked a weird seriousness to his tone that Ichigo had never heard from the man before.

"Yeah he's here with me, why, what's going on?" Ichigo's voice was becoming more concerned by the second. _This better not be some stupid prank, I'll drag his hat wearing ass all the way to hell._

"It's Kyler's school…Ichigo, it's on fire…and I haven't found her yet."

Ichigo felt his heart completely stop. _What? I don't understand. What?_ He stood frozen in place as Urahara continued to talk from the badge.

"Ichigo you guys need to hurry. I'm not even sure what's going on." Urahara stated then the device went completely silent.

It was Grimmjow who was the first to grab Ichigo and pull him from the terrible thoughts that were swirling through his head.

"ICHIGO COME ON, WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" He had already opened the Garganta and was flying as fast he could with Ichigo barely conscious behind him.

 _Oh whatever gods are out there…please…oh please…let her be alright…don't let the worst things I'm thinking come to pass…_ Ichigo's mind was racing through all the things that could have happened, but when the Garganta opened to world of the living all of those thoughts completely vanished. _The only thing that matters right now is finding her. Put those thoughts aside and focus on the things you can do._ Ichigo prepared himself as they stepped out into the world of the living. Neither one of them stopped at the shop for their bodies simply flying as fast as possible towards the huge plume of black smoke that could be seen even from the distance they were at. _What could have possibly happened?_

 **XXX**

When they arrived among the clouds of smoke looking down to the 4 fire trucks trying desperately to put out the fire. There were still children pouring out of the building each one a little more covered with smoke and coughing as if at any point they might just cough up a lung. Grimmjow looked at Ichigo for a brief second concern on both their faces.

"You go check all around the building and among the kids, I'll look inside. GO!" He yelled as he flew through one of the upper level windows crashing into the building. Ichigo didn't even get a chance to nod before he too was flying down to the ground desperately searching through the crowds. He went through every single face among the crowds, around the building, within the ambulances that were being taken to the hospitals, but there was no sign of Kyler anywhere.

Ichigo was going into full blown panic at how things were going, he could only hope that Grimmjow had found her within the building, and saved her from the flames that had now engulfed the entirety of the building. The flames flickered with more life despite the firemen's best attempts to control the flames. The fire cackled with each floor it engulfed, like a child getting to steal an extra cookie from the cookie jar. There was nothing that could be done to save the building the best the people could do was prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings, and try to evacuate the area for when the building would come crashing down as the fire devoured the supports of the lower floors. Ichigo looked on helplessly waiting for any sign of Grimmjow to come out of the building.

Finally, Grimmjow exploded from the first floor mere second before the building came tumbling down, unable to withstand that wrath of the flames any longer. Ichigo ran towards Grimmjow looking for any sign of his daughter within his arms. As he reached him his worst nightmare was coming true, Grimmjow turned to him with shear horror in his eyes as he looked at Ichigo.

"I…I couldn't…I couldn't find her anywhere!" He yelled grabbing onto Ichigo's shoulders with both hands, his grip nearly crushing Ichigo's shoulders. "Please tell me you found her…that she's safe…that she's gonna be ok…please Ichi…tell me Kyler is ok." He whispered looking to Ichigo for any positive sign that Kyler had been found, but to his dismay neither of them could tell the other the news they so desperately wanted to hear. "No…" was all he whispered before shutting his eyes tight, his whole body began to shake uncontrollably. Something was constricting his chest, he couldn't breathe, his entire chest hurt, he had to force himself to heave large breathes just to keep himself standing up, but even those hurt to accomplish. His chest tightened even more, now he truly couldn't breathe. He let go of Ichi, and without looking turned and continued his search around the building, somebody, someone must have seen her.

Ichigo had stood there frozen in place. He had never seen that kind of reaction from Grimmjow, never a look of such concern, such pain, such worry, such…desperation. It made Ichigo's heart ache even more than it already was. His eyes were beginning to blur, but the feeling in his body was completely empty. There was nothing but a void, an endless void, it was a shear agony that could never be completely described. His entire being had been robbed of feeling, he stood there completely numb in place. He knew as soon as this void ran it's course, his body would completely crash, he would have no sense of control, his brain would shut down and when that happened, he would have to make sure there was not a soul around him to get hurt. For now though, while his body was numb, he needed to continue his search.

The hours ticked by and as the evening settled and the flames dulled, there was still no sign of Kyler. The firemen had asked all the people to go home so they could continue their jobs and start searches among the destruction. Urahara had brought Grimmjow and Ichigo's bodies to them a couple hours ago and they had continued their searching on foot, they asked teachers, students, parents, even at the hospital, no one had seen her.

And so they stood…behind the caution tape…just gazing at a building that not 24 hours ago had they watched their little girl run into for another fun day of learning. Things could not possibly end like that for her, she was only 7! How could a life so young be destroyed so quickly? Neither Ichigo or Grimmjow looked at the other, they were both in their own minds spinning every thought, every question, every reason why something so awful could happen to a life so innocent.

Grimmjow's body had not stopped shaking and he was barely holding himself together, the constriction around his chest hadn't ceased and now it even felt like knives had dug their way deep into his skin making any movement unbearable. He wouldn't show tears though…not here…not in front of these people…not in front of Ichigo. He wouldn't allow himself to cry until they had confirmed their worst nightmare. His breathing was ragged and shallow trying to choke back sobs as he watched the firemen begin to dig through what was left of the charred building. His heart dropped into his stomach when he saw 3 firemen dig a small corpse from the ashes. Completely black and hardly resembling any form of a child, Grimmjow watched unblinking as they placed the charred corpse onto a stretcher and carried it to the ambulance for an examination.

Ichigo's body was wearing down and he knew he couldn't keep up this cool facade for much longer. This endless void of emotion was beginning to wear off, and his body was beginning to boil with shear anguish. He knew a similar emotion when his mother had died, but this was stronger…much stronger. He had watched the firemen pull the burnt corpse from the building, his heart had already sunk from seeing Grimmjow's initial reaction, now it just felt like the thing had completely shattered sending the shards to pierce the rest of his body to share the pain. He couldn't do it…he just couldn't…he needed to stay…to see them pull Kyler's body from the ashes…but he just couldn't…he would completely break…and when he did…he wanted to be alone. He slowly turned and began to walk towards their home. He put his hands in his pockets and raised the hood to the black sweatshirt he was wearing. At least there he could be alone for a while, not worry what other people thought. As he walked away, he didn't notice Grimmjow grip onto the weightless caution tape in front of him…gripping it so tightly his hands began to bleed. Ichigo didn't see…see the streaks…the tracks of tears run down Grimmjow's face…the drops soaking the ground as he died inside.

 **XXX**

Ichigo's walk home had been a true test of how long his control would hold, how strong was his will to never let anyone see him cry. As he reached their home, he walked up the sidewalk past the front white fence gate, and as he reached for the keys a small glimmer of hope entered his mind that maybe…perhaps she'd be here…somehow she had gotten out and run to the security of their home…just maybe. He turned the key and entered the completely black house. He didn't bother to turn the lights on…he didn't need them. He slowly walked up the steps past the first door on the left, past the second, he opened the door to the third and peered inside. What he saw broke him…the room was empty…she wasn't there. Ichigo closed the door gently and walked back to their room, the first door. He opened it and slowly closed the door behind him…he looked at the ceiling…his emotions finally caught up to him, he couldn't hold it any longer, he let out one long sob, wail, scream then his body took over shutting his mind off as the room before him was torn completely apart.

His next conscious thought didn't come until several hours later as he sat in a corner of the room his knees curled up underneath his crossed arms as he let out sobs, and ragged breathes as tears pooled onto the wood floor beneath him. He was shaking uncontrollably, he couldn't open his eyes, they stung whenever he tried. His chest heaving as he choked on sob after sob. It hurt…it hurt everywhere…a pain indescribable…it was like the world came crashing down on him and he was completely alone to let it crush him. His knuckles were bleeding from punching into the walls so many times he has sure several bones had been broken, but those broken bones had no weight to the turmoil raging within his body. He was exhausted, but he knew he couldn't sleep…wouldn't sleep…it would be impossible…his body would not allow it.

Ichigo was so lost in trying to hold himself somewhat together on the floor that he didn't hear the front door open…or hear it close. He didn't here the slow footsteps trek up the steps and stop in front of his door. He did hear that door open though, but he couldn't move. There was no way he could pick himself up…no way he could attempt to put words together to explain what had happened to the room. He just continued sobbing silently hoping that the person would just go away and let his world continue to crumble around him. He felt someone slide down the wall to sit beside him. He felt Grimmjow's arm slide around him and pull him into a hug…Grimm pulled him into his lap and held him tightly. He didn't say a word…he couldn't…what could he possibly say. Neither said a word…they just gripped the other as tight as they could. Ichigo didn't even look at Grimmjow…it was a good thing…he wouldn't see the blood red eyes…the tear stained tracks down his face…Ichigo didn't know…he wasn't there, but Grimmjow had left after they had pulled the 5th body from the building. He couldn't do it any more, he had left for Hueco Mundo,and he had torn apart everything he could get his hands on from building ruble to hollows…he'd done it all and almost completely emptied his spirit energy…he was just as helpless as Ichigo…and neither of them would ever speak of this…they both died that night, so there was nothing more to do, but sit in the dark and mourn the loss of their most beloved treasure. They stayed there all night and most of the morning, never moving, too broken to even care.

 **XXX**

The next day Ichigo and Grimmjow managed to put on enough of a calm and collected facade to go to the hospital to see all the names of the victims of the fire that had completely destroyed their lives. They walked without saying a word, both completely drained of being up all night and they both knew that neither would sleep again tonight. They walked without touching, for there was no comfort that either could do for the other, they couldn't stop what had happened and they would just have to find a way to keep going, no matter what. They arrived at the hospital a little after 10 wearing nothing but sweatshirts and sweatpants not caring what other people thought of them, they wouldn't understand. They walked to the front desk and it was Grimmjow to be the one to ask where they should go to receive the information.

"Excuse me miss…where do we go to find out the victims of the elementary school fire?" His voice was completely hoarse and it took all his strength to make his voice intelligible for the staff lady. She looked up to answer his question and upon seeing both of them her face filled with sympathy as she looked at two sets of eyes swollen and blood shot with dark circles underneath. She gently nodded, grabbed a portfolio and handed it to him.

"These are all the names we have accounted for so far. There are still a few who are missing and their names are listed at the bottom. I'm so very sorry." She said gently and sat back down at the desk to answer a phone call. "Oh please, when you are done tell me the name and return the portfolio." She quickly stated before talking into the phone.

Ichigo followed Grimmjow to a waiting area and they both sat down beside each other. Grimm held the blue portfolio in his hand but as he went to open it, his hand began to shake making it impossible for him to even grip the folder, let alone open it. He sat there looking at his hand trying to calm himself enough to open it, when Ichigo's hand slid up to cover his. Grimmjow looked at Ichigo surprised at how calm he was being. Ichigo just looked at him, made a deep breath gesture and looked back to the portfolio. Grimmjow did the same, he closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, he released the air not feeling any better, but it was good enough that he could open the portfolio.

They both peered down the list of names and read the column next to the names labeled _Deceased_. There were 110 names on the list ranging from student, to teacher, to staff, but they did not find Kyler's name on any of them. They peered over all the pages double checking to make sure before turning to the last page.

Under the title of _Missing Persons_ the very first name to appear: _Kyler Kurosaki-Jaguerjaquez_

 **XXX**

There had been a mixture of emotions after they had read that name. There was a small glimmer of hope that just maybe she was still alive, so they had continued their searching nonstop. For two weeks the two searched every place they could think of, they even decided to search the soul society as well as Hueco Mundo because if she had died in the fire maybe somehow she had managed to make it to the next world without them noticing. Everybody in the soul society desperately tried to help, scouring the realms in search of Kyler, but to no avail. She was nowhere to be found. Ichigo and Grimmjow were in a complete stage of despair that nobody could pull them from, despite their attempts to comfort them the two only found solace in getting to destroy ruble in the sands of Hueco Mundo.

What came to hurt them the most was the not knowing what happened to her. Neither of them could truly cope since they had no idea whether to mourn or to keep searching, so it ended up being both constantly gnawing on their insides. Every night was the same, they would come in at separate times, sit next to each other, and just wait for the sun to come back up so they could start again. What little sleep they did get was filled with images of Kyler, and just imagining the worst things imaginable happening to her while they had been gone. Both of them were completely drained from their emotions, and became more zombie like in their day to day activities.

After two months of searching and not finding so much as a clue to what happened to Kyler, Ichigo and Grimmjow decided that it was time to let it rest. They chose to have a small funeral with an empty casket, since they had found no sign of Kyler anywhere. By no means were they giving up on some small hope that just maybe she was still alive some how, but they had to let others know that it was time to move on.

It was a small funeral on the edge of Karakura Town at the town cemetery, everyone they knew came to pay their respects. Members of the soul society came along with the remaining arrancar, Isshin and the girls came as well, but all of them went unnoticed to Ichigo and Grimmjow. The two stood at the foot of the empty casket dressed in fine black suits, just staring as if in a trance. They wouldn't cry, their bodies were completely empty of shedding any more tears. Neither ever acknowledged any of the faces that came and paid their respects, and once everyone had left they still stood, completely unmoving. The sun began to set in front of them, and the site would have looked serene if the atmosphere hadn't been so morbid and devoid of any life. The couple stood and just barely visible between the two, one could see Grimmjow's shaking hand holding tightly with Ichigo's as they each said their goodbyes, promising to never give up on finding out the truth behind her disappearance. The promised that even though every day would never be the same…they wouldn't give up…they wouldn't stop living, no matter how hard things got. It was a solemn vow…one they knew would hold each other accountable…and although they knew the other would never stop being reckless…it was a promise to never make the other feel this way again…and for that matter, have to deal with it alone.

 **XXX**

It was a slow process, getting either of them to open up again after that, but as time went by they came back around. Neither of them ever became the same person they were before the accident, but they tried their best to appear as normal as possible. Head Captain Yamamoto had told them personally to take as much time they needed before returning to their official duties, because once they did, he would take no excuses for them not fulfilling their duties.

The Soul Society went back to it's same old routine, and things finally seemed to be getting better when the head captain called a captain's meeting.

They all stood before him in their two rows with their lieutenants off to the side behind them as well. Each captain peering around the room as to any sign of why such a meeting had been called. No one had the slightest idea of what could be happening, as far as they knew things were perfectly fine. Yamamoto sat at the front of the room his cain held in front of him, as his usual passive glare scanned the length of the room for any intruders listening in on this meeting. When he decided to speak, he gave a low cough in his throat to signal all the captains to listen closely.

"So nice to see you all, wondering what I have called you all here for hmm." He stated in his usual husky tone. All the captains and lieutenants stood at attention waiting patiently for him to continue.

"There has been an accident of some sort in Australia. There is an immense number of new souls in an immediate area, and our typical scouts are just not equipped well enough to handle it. I will need to send two squads to survey what happened as well as take care of the souls there. I need Squad 7 Captain Kuchiki and Squad 11 Captain Zaraki to head there as soon as possible." He announced peering at each captain as he said their names. Both simply nodded their agreement to the task, while everyone else nodded their acknowledgement. They were all dismissed and the chosen captain headed out through the Senkaimon, while the rest mingled about.

It wasn't until a week later that Kuchiki and Zaraki returned. They met with the head captain about everything that they had seen, and what little they could make of it.

"Captain, the entire area for 30 square miles was completely destroyed of life. Hundreds had suddenly broken out with the Ebola virus, killing every single person in the area." Kuchiki spoke with his usual monotone voice, he glanced over at Zaraki still not really understanding everything that he saw. "It was odd, once the virus had spread to that 30 square mile area, it almost seemed like it vanished, there were no cases of the virus outside the area, even to people who had gone in and out mere days before the initial attack. It appears to be some human form of military experimentation, or that is the only conclusion I can think of, but I did not know the humans had such extensive control over a level 5 virus." His tone unwavering even though his thoughts seemed to go on a tangent. Zaraki never said a word just nodded his agreement, and when they were finished with their report he headed out looking for a fight. A week of guiding souls to the soul society had been extremely boring and his muscles tensed at the thought of finally getting to fight.

Kuchiki lingered a little longer waiting for Yamamoto to answer his questions or let him know his job was finished.

"Hmm, that does seem unusual, but if the virus is not spreading there is really not much else we can do, just keep your eyes and ears open for another incident, if something like this happens again the humans responsible will need to be dealt with as soon as possible." Yamamoto husked out the words to Kuchiki ushering his dismissal, he sat alone in his barracks thoughts swirling in his mind trying to piece together information that didn't seem to add up. None of it really made any since so he sighed and went to discuss matters at Central 46.

 **XXX**

Over the course of several years there were many incidents all around the world for which the soul society could not piece together what was happening. A bombing in central Europe, a tsunami devastating the southern half of Japan, a war in Africa only to be abandoned 6 months later. The seemingly random events didn't stop until every continent had experienced their own form of disaster. The amount of humans lives destroyed was unheard of and the soul society gained hundreds of new souls each day. The same could be said in Hueco Mundo, the arrancars struggled to keep the number of hollows in check and were constantly out working. Ichigo and Grimmjow helped out as often as the soul society allowed and kept themselves busy.

After a weird seven years of soul society almost breaking at the seams with the number of souls, things again began to settle down and return to normal. Things were quiet, a little too quiet if you asked around. The soul society was never so boring, and little did anyone know things were about to take a sudden turn. Three years of shear boredom were about to swept from underneath everyone's feet, but for today Ichigo and Grimmjow didn't care. Today was the anniversary and they had gone every year to spend the evening with their daughter. They still had found no clues to what had happened that day, but it had sure been the beginning to a long list of unexplainable instances. All of them too random to be coincidence, but any time they tried to put two and two together they wound up with more questions than answers.

They performed their usual routine going to their house, which they just didn't have the heart to sell even though they rarely came back any more, cleaning up then heading to the flower shop before walking out to the cemetery. They walked in utter silence not taking the time to acknowledge anyone as they passed. The site was just ahead and up on the hill just in front of Kyler's grave, unknown to Ichigo and Grimmjow stood a figure. A pair of dark navy jeans that hugged the small figure without becoming too tight to make movement a struggle. A black loose fitting hoodie covered her arms and torso. The hood was covering the head hiding the identity of the figure as they stood paying their respects. The grass was soft and moist beneath bare feet and just as Ichigo and Grimmjow entered the cemetery the figure disappeared without either of them having a chance to see it.

Standing before the grave brought back all the emotions both had experienced over the years. A sadness they both held, the disappointment of failing to protect the one thing they held most dear to them. They each had their moment to share their thoughts with her and let her know how they were doing. As the sun set in front of them they bid their goodbyes until next time. The spring breeze blowing across the graves with a quiet whisper. They returned home for a sleepless night unprepared for the fight that lay ahead.

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 **Hi everyone thanks for reading! I know this chapter is rather depressing but things will certainly pick up from here. Please take some time to write a review let me know your thoughts they really do help. Thanks again for reading and I will upload the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	3. Intruder

_Standing before the grave brought back all the emotions both had experienced over the years. A sadness they both held, the disappointment of failing to protect the one thing they held most dear to them. They each had their moment to share their thoughts with her and let her know how they were doing. As the sun set in front of them they bid their goodbyes until next time. The spring breeze blowing across the graves with a quiet whisper. They returned home for a sleepless night unprepared for the fight that lay ahead._

Intruder

Ichigo and Grimmjow awoke from a light sleep with the sun gleaming through their open window. Grimmjow rolled out of the bed, standing to stretch his stiff muscles as he let out a tired yawn. He stretched his arms flexing his back and shoulder muscles revealing that, like a fine wine, he too got better with age. Ichigo could only stare with a hungry delight at how despite the rough years Grimmjow was still the only person he wanted to wake up to in the morning, of course he would never give Grimmjow the satisfaction of knowing that. Grimm walked away from the bed into the bathroom to clean up and get ready to head back to the soul society.

Ichigo slowly sat up from the bed letting the covers fall to his waste revealing his roughly chiseled chest that he kept in the best condition he could. For both of their duties, if either of them were at less than peak condition, they could easily find themselves out of the job or worse killed in action. He peaked behind him to glare at the rising sun that had abruptly disturbed his dreams. Whenever he and Grimmjow came home Ichigo always dreamed about Kyler. Oh how he missed her. Ichigo dreamt she had come home from school, her smiling face happy to see him and Grimm. She had hugged him tightly and he too had squeezed her so tightly his arms had cramped. If he could do it over, Ichigo decided he would have told her everything, about being soul reapers. Maybe then, she could have sent a message for help and they could have saved her.

He sighed as he got out of bed. _If only I could go back,_ he thought to himself as he stepped out of the master bedroom. He took three steps and stood facing the closed door to Kyler's bedroom, he took a deep breath and opened the door. The room was kept exactly how she had left it that day. Her bed was unmade the walls covered with books stacked all along the edges, a few clothes tossed onto the edge of the bed from her choices of what to wear that day. Ichigo walked over and sat on her bed scanning the room and reminiscing in the memories of a time that he was truly happy. He turned his head to examine the photo frame that showcased the three of them together, both Ichigo and Grimmjow had been sitting in the grass up on the bank of the stream and Kyler had run up behind them wrapping her tiny arms around both their necks pulling their faces tightly together. He smiled at the memory, a genuine smile of the times he treasured so dear.

Grimmjow came walking through the door of Kyler's room a pair of jeans and t-shirt on since he would shed his giggai when they decided to leave. He leaned his shoulder against the frame of the door and made a heavy sigh.

"You know, it never gets easier coming in here." He said calmly crossing his arms while looking at Ichigo.

"I know," he replied with a sigh, "I don't know why but I keep thinking one of these days she's just going to magically show up here." He looked back to Grimm with a little half smile on his face, "Yeah I know, you can call me crazy now."

Grimm shrugged and let out a little chuckle, "If you're crazy, I'm crazy 'cause I'm holding out for the same thing." He straightened himself and turned to head downstairs, "Come on, you know Yamamoto will wring our necks if we're late."

Ichigo stood from the bed and gazed around the room. He sighed whispering to himself, "She'd be seventeen years old already."

We trudged out of the room to the master bedroom to take quick shower and put some clothes on before heading to the soul society.

 **XXX**

Grimmjow and Ichigo stepped out of the Senkaimon and headed for Squad 12's barracks and training grounds for another boring day in the soul society. The sun shown over a clear sky as new souls and soul reapers went about their day to day duties. Ichigo and Grimmjow glazed over their duties simply going through the motions not caring to devote their attention to such tedious tasks when Byakuya wandered into their quarters.

"Captain Kuchiki, what can I do for you?" Ichigo asked, surprised that the captain would pay them a visit.

"I wanted to go over the accident that happened at Central 46 three years ago. I know you and Grimmjow can offer a different perspective from mine, something about the incident just throws me off and I wanted to know some of your thoughts." He stated casually looking around the room for Grimmjow.

"Grimmjow isn't here at the moment he's training squad members today, but maybe he'll show up a little later. What exactly do you want to go over about the incident, as far as I know the construction they had done ten years ago had not been properly reinforced for as expansive as the site was." Ichigo pondered trying to think back to the accident. The incident had not had anything to do with a war or any type of fighting so Ichigo hadn't thought much of it. Structure collapse was not one of the things that drew his mind to wonder about the details so he had gone with what he had been told and left things at that. To have Kuchiki poking around about it, something had to stick out to draw his attention.

"That's fine, can you remember everything that happened that day? I'm curious if you can remember anything that I can not." He sat down at the kotatsu where Ichigo was currently going over paperwork. Ichigo set the papers aside and pulled his right hand to his chin as his face pulled into a quizzical expression. Ichigo couldn't remember what he had for breakfast two days ago, for Kuchiki to ask him to remember an event from three years ago was going to be difficult.

"Well let me think…yeah it's slowly coming back to me. It was a late evening in the middle of the summer because me and Grimmjow had just returned from helping out in Hueco Mundo…We were walking to the barracks and Grimm had been complaining about the temperature being cold for it to be summer, of course leave it to Grimm to find something to complain about rather than just want to go home and sleep. I remember thinking that he had been right for a brief moment before I heard the alarm sound…at first I thought we had been under attack, but then I remember seeing soul reapers rushing about on the rooftops fanning out from Central 46 to the very edges of the Seireitei. I remember the cold air becoming dense and heavy as I watched people running from Central 46, but oddly enough there was no screaming like I would have thought there would be since part of the barracks and training grounds had collapsed. Grimmjow had been very insistent that we should check out 46 and make sure our help was not needed.

When we arrived there, things already seemed to be under control Captain Yamamoto was their giving commands as usual, as people flooded about the area cleaning up bits of debris. The old man had told us there hadn't been any injuries, and that his biggest concern was he hoped none of the prisoners locked deep below 46 had escaped. I remember offering my help to go down and check things out, but he had insisted that would not be necessary. He said he would rather go down and search himself since only he and members of 46 could account for all the prisoners held down there. He seemed a little distraught as I recall, it was like a small sense of fear and loss of control, but he didn't let it show too much. The old geezer simply told us that there was nothing we could do than to just make sure the rest of the Seireitei did not go into in uproar and that things should calm down in a little while.

Grimm was annoyed about being out so late for no good reason and I remember both of us wanting to get a closer look at things only to be shot out by 46 members saying they didn't need us around in order to get things taken care of. We had hung back a bit to wonder around the Seireitei sitting on top of the buildings just trying to get a better glimpse at the supposed damage below. I remember the chill in the air had not subsided despite all the commotion and having my adrenaline pumping for no good reason then…" Ichigo turned his head to look at Kuchiki as he recalled something he had never thought twice about. Kuchiki sat patiently listening intently at the remembrance of the incident, his own memories were not that much different from Ichigo's a part from a few minor details here and there.

"I remember peaking up at the night sky and for a brief second I thought I saw a group of figures disappearing into the empty sky…it was almost as if they just dissolved into the sky, I thought I had just imagined it because I was tired, but now that I think about it…I definitely saw something out there that night."

Ichigo stared at Kuchiki curious as to what Kuchiki would say to that, whether he would play it off like Ichigo really had imagined the whole thing, or that just maybe he had seen it too and wanted to know more about it.

Kuchiki looked at him without an expression on his face, then he sighed, "I wondered if any one else had happened to see them too."

"What do you think it means, or what got you thinking about it now of all times?" Ichigo asked curiously, now that Kuchiki had brought it up he was intrigued to know what it all meant.

"I don't know, could be nothing, but something tells me we were not told everything that happened that night. Well to be perfectly honest the past ten years have been rather weird, even by my standards, so when everything finally calmed down I started going over all the events that just seemed too random to be coincidence. I've been trying to decide what could have been a starting/ending point to control these events, and that is what lead me to that incident. It seemed after that incident things calmed down between the realms, but I wanted to know if any one else saw the same thing I did before coming to a conclusion." He rambled in his usual uninterested tone despite his complete attention being devoted to explaining the incidents that happened over the course of seven years.

Ichigo sat contemplating what Kuchiki had said trying to piece together the gaps he had in his mind. "You may be onto something, maybe we should—"

He was interrupted by the Seireitei alarm, there was an intruder in the outer ring of the soul society. Both Kuchiki and Ichigo looked at each other curiously. Who could possibly be intruding on the soul society! They both rose from their seats, strapped their zanpakuto to their waste and began walking, no doubt there was going to be a captains meeting before they would enter a fight. Besides, no intruder could really cause that much trouble for the soul reapers could they?

Ichigo chuckled to himself as him and Kuchiki walked while soul reapers ran towards the edges of the Seireitei to take care of the intruder.

"What's so amusing Kurosaki?"

"It's just different being on this side of the alarm. I remember when I first came to the soul society, wow that truly was a long time ago." He continued to chuckle as Kuchiki looked at him completely uninterested in that particular memory.

"Yes, it's not so fun any more now is it?" He asked not really caring to get a response.

"Yeah it's boring being on this side of things no real excitement going on." He stated blankly continuing to walk with Kuchiki.

 **XXX**

"I WANT HIM CAPTURED DEAD OR ALIVE!" A soul reaper shouted over the others as they tried to fight the intruder, but no one had come close to laying a hand on him. The guy easily out maneuvered ever single one them. His body sliding through the tiniest gaps in oncoming attacks with effortless grace. A side step here, sideways slide, duck just below the blades as they aim for the torso. The man had not even drawn a single weapon, he simply treated their weapons as harmless toys. He ran along the rooftops without any effort, his face was covered by a large hood that despite his running did not leave his head. He wore a baggy white sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off to reveal lean darkly tanned arms. A pair of black athletic shorts reached to the middle of his knee caps showing muscular calves. The man was barefoot, and by the looks of things, it didn't seem to bother him one bit.

Five reapers jumped him at edge of the outer ring their swords synchronized in slicing the target before them to nothing. The man planted his right foot completely stopping his momentum. As the reapers swords inched towards his body he stood with his arms in defensive stance just waiting patiently for the opportune moment. The swords came to graze across the fabric covering his body, his moment had come, and with that he spun his hands reaching to grasp every sword that had dared to come his way. A simple touch from his skin is all it took for the metal of the blades to melt becoming completely harmless. The liquid metal hung in the air as if waiting for instruction to returned to it's original form when the man simply held his hands to the liquid surrounding him and it instantaneously reacted to his will covering over his skin like water droplets, covering the surface of his hands before hardening into a stronger metal than before.

The soul reapers who had attacked him did not know what had happened. It was an instantaneous move that took less than the blink of the eye, they didn't even know their swords were gone before it was too late. With the man's hands becoming their own weapon, he began his assault ripping thru the five figures that stood all around him. He sliced through vital arteries that if not treated immediately would kill in less than a minute. The inner arm, the inner thy, across the neck, he moved effortlessly as if each slice was like cutting through air. When they all laid dead before him blood spewing all across the roof and the ground below, the man looked to his hands again allowing the metal to liquify from his own thought as he popped his knuckles. There was not a spot of blood on him to be found, his white sweatshirt looked as though he had just put it on, if not for the bodies at his feet one would never know the deed he had just done.

The other soul reapers looked on in complete shock and terror, for their very own comrades had been cut down by the very blades created from their souls to protect them. They lay slain before a being that none of them could comprehend. One of the fifth seated soul reapers looked to the comrades beside him.

"GO! WARN THE CAPTAINS OF THIS! THOSE OF US HERE WILL NOT BE ABLE STOP HIM, MAYBE THEY CAN!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and immediately one of the men in the back took off towards the inner circle of the Seireitei. Those that remained turned back to face the intruder before them, sweat covered their brows as fear spread across each of their faces, but they would not falter, for it was their duty to protect the soul society.

The figure turned to face them as the roof he stood on dripped blood into the street below. Below the hood two brown eyes gleamed, staring at the enemies before him. The brown iris contained speckles of gold, looking like a light brown as if the very iris itself was placed into the forge to be melted into something new. He spread the metal he had just procured across his arms, giving himself a light armor that he could easily manipulate at will wherever he needed it. Just as the soul reapers were readying themselves for their next attack he leapt amongst them all gathering more metal for his own armor while instantly cutting down targets without a second thought. This man showed no remorse, no halt in his actions as with each soul he claimed he became stronger in his movements, more determined in his will to end them.

He danced through them catching a blade here or there, but they didn't even leave a scratch his body moved before his enemies could make their own move. He was quick and agile, trained to be silent and deadly, leaving behind a trail of corpses if need be to get the job done. He had been taught to find one purpose and destroy anything that stood in the way, and for now, the soul reapers are what stood in his way.

By the time he was through, bodies lay strung all around him, and again none of it showed on any of his clothes. His body wasn't tired, not in the least, this had simply been a warm up. He was trained to go for days without sleep, ready to fight in every second. He had gathered more than enough metal to make himself a decent armor, what he didn't have slightly hardened around his body, almost like a second skin, was hovering around him. The metal itself waited beside him waiting to be willed into use. He knew he would have use for it when he faced the captains if he got that far. He turned to glare at the wall that stood before him, attempting to block his way, his eyes continued to glow but the iris now had completely melted in the fire. They shown a bright metallic copper just waiting to cool into a shiny new form, but for now, the fire raged the metal was held at bay from spewing from the iris by the thin black edge that served as a cast for the metal to harden. With a small sigh he walked straight for the gate not waiting for the guardian to let him pass, for if he showed himself, the man would not hesitate in slicing him down as well.

 **XXX**

Meanwhile in a realm between realms, unknown to the soul reapers or hollows, there was a place newly discovered for only those who sought refuge. The land was a harsh climate mountains scattered everywhere, their jagged peaks reaching into the clouds that endlessly raged with snow, ice, and winds that could easily freeze a being to the core if they did not know the secret. In the middle of the endlessness the blizzards raged and the mountains whistled, there sat a figure in the snow completely oblivious to ongoing turmoil of the land. The figure seemed lost in thought, sensing the energy between all the realms…searching. The figure stood finding the twisted energy it had been seeking and with a long sigh masked by the howling winds the figure whispered, "and so it begins."

Without a second thought leapt gracefully into the clouds disappearing into the endless barrage of ice and snow to seek out the entanglement of energy that seemed to be generating from the realm of the soul reapers.

 **XXX**

The captains all stood in their usual two row formation while Yamamoto sat at the head waiting patiently for his co-captains to start up the bickering. Each captain had his lieutenant standing quietly being him just waiting for permission to speak. Ichigo and Byakuya stood completely lost in their own thoughts to start up any of the conversation. Renji was the first to offer his opinion.

"Have we heard any news on who the intruder is?" He asked casually annoyed that no one else had decided to step up and ask the question.

"No we have not Captain Abari." Yamamoto stated in his scratchy voice.

"Should we not go check on our subordinates? If they have not been able to check in, then perhaps this intruder is giving them more trouble than we expected." He retorted angry that the old man could seem so calm, surely by now word would have gotten to any of them on who the intruder was.

Suddenly a fresh graduate reaper crashed through the doors of the captains meeting completely pale and out of breath. His breathes were shallow and rapid, his lungs were trying desperately to get enough oxygen to his aching body. "CAPTAINS! THE ENTIRE SOUTHERN FORCES HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT BY THE INTRUDER!"

All the captains looked at him with shock exposed across all of their faces, some having an exasperated intake of breath at the realization of the proclamation. The old first captain scratched his beard and stood up from his seat.

"Captain Kurosaki seek out this intruder, I want him brought to me by any means necessary, dead or alive." He ordered in a bold manor.

Ichigo nodded his understanding right before Yamamoto continued speaking. "Captain Unohana see the injured quickly, the rest of my captains spread out, it appears this is no ordinary intruder, if any of you see the intruder your orders are the same as Kurosaki's. I want this intruder brought before me!" He ordered growing impatient at his captains who were still standing waiting for him to finish his orders.

"DISMISSED!" Immediately the captains sprang into action, Ichigo with Grimmjow behind him escaping to the skies to find the intruder. Captain Zaraki as usual went off looking for the intruder as well, but everyone knew he would probably be the last one to find him.

High above the Seireitei Ichigo and Grimmjow stood surveying the land below looking for the intruder. "One intruder took out the entire southern division, sounds like I'm going to get to have an interesting fight." Grimmjow stated letting his psychotic attitude spread across a wicked grin waiting for Ichigo to order him out of it.

"Don't be in such a rush, we need to see what this intruder is capable of." He stated flatly not breaking his concentration as he continued to scan the southern section of the perimeter for any signs of the intruder.

Sure enough just breaking into the southern border walls of the Seireitei, Ichigo noticed a metallic figure walking down the middle of the empty street. He had little slivers of liquidized metal surrounding his body, just floating effortlessly beside him. _Well that's certainly interesting_. Without a second thought, he flew like a missile towards the supposed target not knowing what he was truly about to get himself into.

The figure made no movement towards acknowledging the two rocketing themselves near his current stroll, but of course he could sense their energy all too well. Ichigo charged through the air, wind whipping at his face causing him to squint his eyes in concentration. Grimmjow followed close behind his psychotic smile spreading with excitement, to think, Ichigo didn't understand why him and captain Zaraki couldn't stand each other they basically had the same psychotic personality when it came to fighting.

Ichigo was about 50 feet away from his target when Zangetsu stopped him. _"ICHIGO STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"_

Ichigo stumbled midair nearly crashing face first into the ground below, luckily he quickly corrected himself landing on his feet in a defensive stance approximately 25 feet away from the now motionless figure. The white hood keeping his identity hidden, all Ichigo could see through the dark shadows beneath the hood were two almond smoldering orbs. The fires had dwindled leaving the brown irises to harden.

 _"_ _Zangetsu? What's the matter?"_

 _"_ _If you let him touch me, I will no longer be your sword to command?"_

 _"_ _What?! What are you talking about?"_

 _"_ _I can't explain really, but by the aura around him is not his own, it seems to be a mixture of multiple Zanpakutos melted into the armor he's wearing."_

 _"_ _I don't know how that's possible, but let's go with it we'll keep our distance."_

Grimmjow looked at Ichigo his expression begging to know why Ichigo had not attacked the man yet, but he held still waiting for Ichigo to make the first move.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked with a stern face, ready to fight at any moment should the man choose to ignore his inquiry.

The man stood unmoving, almost statue like, analyzing both the individuals in front of him. He didn't quite understand, but somehow these figures were somehow familiar to him, and yet completely different. He knew he had never met either of these men before, but their energy was similar to someone else he had once known. Staring at the two figures before him and searching with his mind the surrounding terrain for any surprise attacks, the man choose to answer this orange headed man's question.

"I am no one of importance." He stated in a strangled voice. He sounded like he had been gargling nails, his voice was scratchy and rough, his words were almost inaudible.

"You have slaughtered an entire division of soul reapers for no reason, that makes you a person of importance to hunt down." Grimmjow spoke up with a snarky tone.

"I am searching for someone, and if you will not let me continue my search, I will have to kill you."

"Well that doesn't seem right," Ichigo stated, "but what you have done is inexcusable and I can not let you pass."

"Very well, then you will be the first of this duo to die." The man stated harshly, and before he had finished his last words, he had moved through the space between them within the blink of an eye. He outstretched his arm hardening the armor to protect his extended appendage as drove straight for Ichigo's heart.

Ichigo barely understood what had happened, but with out even thinking he had used Zangetsu to block the man's attack. With the man's right arm blocked by Ichigo's sword he jabbed his left hand into Ichigo's torso. Ichigo grunted at the sudden stab to the lower part of his torso, and as he tried so bring his other sword up into a counter attack, he began coughing up mouthfuls of blood. There came to be a different kind of pain as something spread into his body from the man's hand. Ichigo didn't know what was happening to him other than an overwhelming amount of pain as his body was turning pale, the heat of his body was being sucked into the man's intrusive hand leaving behind a cold corpse.

Grimmjow had barely any time to blink before he jumped in to attack the intruder.

"YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" Grimmjow yelled in fury as he drew his sword and yelled the words to enter his release mode. "NOW GRIND…PANTERA!"

He attacked the intruder claws sharp and bursts of fury. The intruder withdrew his hand from Ichigo, letting the dying captain fall to the ground into a heap beneath him as he turned to face the oncoming assault.

Grimmjow used his speed and rage to attack all around the man using short quick stabs to draw the man off guard…but his attacks were not working. No matter what Grimmjow did in his attacks the man always deflected him with his metal skin. Grimmjow's attacks could not even scratch the man's clothing as he continued his flurry of jabs. The man before him seemed almost bored with Grimmjow's attempt to draw him into a fight, he didn't even bother to turn his head as blow after blow was berating him.

Grimmjow grew all the more enraged at how this man took him on as if he were a child. His pride would not allow himself to be so easily discarded by a man he didn't even know, so he decided to try to end this fight as quickly as he could. Grimmjow chanced a glance to look over to Ichigo, the man was seriously pale and barely conscious coughing up blood, he needed to see Unohana or Orihime as soon as possible.

"I'll end this fast, with Desgarron!" The blue sparks burst forth from his claws as he prepared his attack. His right hand drawn back clawing at the air to release the technique on the ever still man before him. _If this doesn't take care of it I'll be screwed._

The intruder never moved from his position as the blue claws targeted his body. His only movement was to outstretch his left hand just in time to catch the attack. The blue claws holding for only a brief second before the entire attack was shattered, the bits and pieces of the attack seemed to break down into tiny orbs of light that soon dispersed and began to blend into the surround area, it seemed as if the air itself had swallowed the attack destroying it before it could do any damage to the target.

Grimmjow looked on both in shock and utter annoyance at how an individual could be so powerful, when he didn't even give off a hint of soul pressure, it was like the being was simply a moving corpse!

"How did you do this? And without any spirit energy? TELL ME!" Grimmjow was beyond angry, his rage was getting the best of him. He didn't realize the opening he had left by his distraction from the fight. The intruder took full advantage of that opening moving quicker than a sonido to pierce Grimmjow's chest.

Grimmjow spit blood onto the ground in front of him as he felt the man's cold hand stab through his heart, giving him just a few seconds of consciousness. The man brought his mouth to Grimmjow's ear and whispered his reply.

"When you don't have a soul you no longer walk the path of those who do."

The man was just about to drop Grimmjow to the ground dead, when he felt a quick burst of energy come directly in front of him and then disappear. He blinked in front, noticing the body he had just stabbed was no longer held in his hands. He glanced around and noticed the blue haired lieutenant being gently laid next to the orange headed captain by a smaller figure in a black hoodie.

The person placed a gentle hand onto the area over Grimmjow's punctured heart. The air around the figure began to pull little golden orbs directly from the sky, it was as if the being was pulling energy directly from the atmosphere around. All the dots were pulled into the figures back, being absorbed into the body. The man looked back down to the hand over the fallen man's heart and slowly it began to heal. The figure didn't completely heal Grimmjow, but did heal his heart jolting it back to life, then healed the area around just enough to stop the bleeding.

The man stood glaring daggers at the hooded figure before him, there was only one person he knew that could do that. The figure once finished stood and turned to face him. The black hood completely covered their face, not even leaving room to reveal the eyes beneath, the only thing that was visible was the mouth and chin. The black hoodie fit loosely covering the figure beneath, and then the white board shorts with a thick black stripe going up the side of each leg did little to give any sign of who the person was.

They stood barefoot in a completely casual stance, just waiting for the man to make a move. He knew this person, and he knew that there was no way he could beat them, they were that strong. The man was faster than any of the beings across the realms, but this person put him to shame, this person understood all of their abilities and was capable of using them to their fullest potential. He was an amateur compared to this figure, but that would not stop him, he needed to win this fight, he was looking for someone and he would die just to find them.

"I didn't expect to see you here, but you are in my way, and you saved a being who I tried to kill."

He lunged at the intruder bringing his body to fight to it's fullest, these soul reapers had been a warm up compared to the fight he was now up against. The figure dodged each of his attacks effortlessly, and with each miss the figure would do a simple tap back onto the man's body. With each tap the man noticed his metallic armor being pulled from his body, hardening into the sword it was before he had stolen them, and falling to the ground around him. To try to bring each of those back into his body would take an extremely large amount of will power and energy that he was not willing to waste against this opponent, instead he focused on holding onto the minimum metal amount needed to give him an adequate weapon to attack with.

Their battle drew out, giving the other captains enough time to find them. Captain Hitsugaya was the first to arrive, along with his lieutenant Rangiku. "Hurry and find Unohana to heal Ichigo and Grimmjow, even from hear I can feel their spirit energy draining." Toshiro told his lieutenant, she nodded and flash stepped away to find them. After she had left Toshiro turned back to look at the two battling before him, they were more just a blur than anything else, they moved even quicker than a flash step, it was almost as if they could cut the atmosphere around them when they moved.

The two below continued fighting without wavering as they knew more and more captains were beginning to show up. Neither stopped to look at the people that began to surround their fighting area, they even both felt medical attention being given to the two that had almost been slain.

"Why would you step in to protect them? I know you better than that. You don't give a damn about anyone!" He breathed out harshly, his energy was beginning to waver, if he did not keep his full concentration on absorbing outside energy for his use, he would be forced to you his own life energy, which he knew his opponent had ten times more life force than he did, after all it was their DNA that gave him the abilities he now possessed.

He shoved himself back from the still hooded figure, giving himself a little time to catch his breath, and try to draw in more energy to use. By now all the captains had arrived on the scene, just standing their watching the battle unfold in front of them.

Toshiro turned to Yamamoto who stood to his right on the rooftops of one of the surrounding buildings and whispered, "I don't know how they are performing these movements, they are both faster than either of us, but it seems the intruder who is the one in the white hoodie is no match for the one in the black. What should we do?"

Yamamoto stood onlooking the going fight pondering Toshiro's question, "I want them captured, these are a different kind of beings and we need to know more about them. If one of them dies, take that body to Mayuri. I'm sure he would be more than excited to have such a specimen to examine."

Toshiro nodded his understanding and continued to watch the fight. Meanwhile Grimmjow had regained consciousness and sat up to watch the fight, continually checking on Ichigo who laid with his face pulled into a grimace at a pain none of them could see. Unohana continued to work on him, but it was doing no good.

"I don't know what is going on with him," she stated in a worried tone. "He's completely healed but there seems to be some kind of poison circulating his body and I can't remove it or destroy it."

Ichigo had blood flowing out of the corners of his mouth as he shivered from the cold that enveloped his body, his very soul being drained of it's energy. Just then there was a loud crack and everyone turned to look at what had perspired as they had examined Ichigo. The two figures now stood close together, the one in white had his left arm held up useless as everyone could see the bones clearly broken along his forearm and upper arm. The black figure stood just outside the man's left arm with their left hand firmly holding the other man's wrist, and the right pushing against the now broken upper arm.

The man didn't scream, or even make a sound at the pain he had just been dealt, but he flung his right arm, covered with a very thin layer of the metallic metal, at the other figure making them release his arm to block, and they both backed away from each other for one last clash. Before the man in white could plan his next move the figure before him held their left hand out slightly, palm to the sky. Quickly different orbs were being pulled from the surrounding area, the ground, sky, buildings, were all giving orbs to the empty palm of the figure. Colors of gold, white, black, red, blue, green, bronze, copper, and brass were all pulled together, they were bound tightly interweaving together around the hand and forearm. The energy orbs never touched the figure, but circled it. This was the control of raw energy, and the man knew this was a completely different level of mastery from what he himself was capable of achieving. The man just gazed at tiny glowing orbs of interwoven energy, and was unfazed when the figure practically teleported in front of him, changing the energy around the left hand to spread to resemble a sort of short blade that went over the back of the hand and drove through the man's stomach.

The energy never punctured all the way through his body, but instead broke off to disconnect his own energy from the rest of the metal he controlled allowing it to fall free from his body. The stab showed no physical signs of damage, but internally the energy was destroying him. The amount of energy shoved into his body began to eat at his internal organs and muscles. He knew that if he didn't get out of the soul society now, surely he would die. He lifted his head from staring at the ground, to the hidden face of the figure in front of him.

"I will see you again." He stated in a determined tone.

Immediately the man's body dissolved in the opposite effect of the figures attack. The energy was pulled back into the atmosphere to disappear, leaving behind no signs of ever being a part of this realm.

The figure in the black hoodie stood placing both hands inside the pocket pouch along the front of the hoodie. They stood silent for a brief minute then whipped their head back over to the lifeless Ichigo laying still beside Grimmjow. The figure casually strode over to where Ichigo was laying, not bothering to even acknowledge the others around, with looks of curiosity, contempt, and fear. The figure knelt to the right of Ichigo and placed their hand across his furrowed brow. It only took a matter of moments before Ichigo's face relaxed and his breathing became more regular. Those that watched, examined in shock not knowing how the figure was somehow healing Ichigo while even Unohana could not. None of them could sense the amount of energy being exchanged between the two, the figure pulled out the infectious energy that was eating at Ichigo's life force, while at the same time pouring in surrounding energy to compatibly replenish the life force he had lost.

Ichigo regained consciousness and sat up quickly into a coughing fit as the hooded figure beside him stood returning their right hand to the pouch of their sweatshirt. Grimmjow moved over beside Ichigo, looking in shear shock at how quickly Ichigo had been saved from the brink of death. Grimmjow silently berated himself on how careless he had been to let Ichigo fight the man before alone.

Ichigo took in harsh deep breathes trying to give oxygen back into his starving body. His face slowly recovered to it's soft tanned shade which Grimmjow loved so much. After Ichigo's breathing returned to normal, he turned to look at his surroundings. "Wh…what happened?"

"It's a long story Ichi, one that we don't have time for." Grimmjow said with a small smile as he grabbed Ichigo and pulled him to his feet. As soon as Ichigo was back on his feet everyone around heard the hard of voice of the head captain roar.

"Bakudo bind, Sajo Sabaku!"

Six yellow glowing rings surrounded and clamped down on the motionless hooded figure who stood amongst them. The rings tightening making any movement of the upper body impossible. The captains who had been watching jumped into the fray and surrounded the unmoving being, who seemed unsurprised to be bound by Kido.

Ichigo and Grimmjow stood behind the circle of captains giving the figure a harsh gaze over. Yamamoto spoke up after walking slowly in front of the figure a few steps away from their face.

"You unknown being will be tried before the Gotei 13 as soon as our 12th Captain recovers from his injuries. I would personally love to kill you right now, but my fellow captains may have other ideas for you which I am willing to hear. Until then, you will be placed in the dungeon to await your trial. This Kido will remain on you until your fate has been decided." He said in his usual raspy voice.

The surrounding captains looked to each other in forms of disapproval, but voiced none since when old man Yamamoto decided something, his orders were followed without question.

"Captain Hitsugaya, Captain Kuchiki, take this prisoner to the cells. I want them watched by a captain every second until the trial." He turned to leave as everyone else glanced around at one another wondering what was running through the head captain's head to make such orders. Toshiro and Byakuya moved to stand beside the figure to escort them to the dungeons.

"Let's go." Byakuya whispered to black hooded figure to the right of him. They began walking quietly leaving behind the rest of the staring captains. Once they were out of hearing distance and prying eyes, Toshiro became too curious to stand the silence.

"What are you doing here?" He stated in his annoyed tone.

The person continued to walk beside them in silence, showing no sign of even acknowledging to being asked a question.

"Leave them alone Captain Hitsugaya, we will get all the answers we need come the trial."

With that, they walked in silence the rest of the way. Once they reached the dungeons they chose the cell with the thickest walls, a tiny window their only glimpse into the outside world. Toshiro shoved the figure into the cell slamming the iron bars behind them. The figure stood in the middle of the room next to the one chair provided. They stood in silence gazing out the tiny window into the sky, as the sun began to fade, painting colors of orange, purple, and blue across the sunset sky. They made no struggle, or any attempt to leave, they didn't even acknowledge when new captains came to switch shifts.

 **XXX**

Ichigo had been escorted by Grimmjow back to their home within the Seireitei to have Unohana and Orihime to check his wounds. If all went well they would start the trial at dawn. He sat on the ground with both Unohana and Orihime performing healing along with poking and prodding.

"And you are sure you feel fine Ichigo," Orihime asked in her concerned voice.

"Yes Orihime, I feel absolutely fine." He sighed back to her.

"It's truly remarkable, I don't know how they did it, it seems they pulled what was ailing you right out of your body effortlessly and replenished your own spirit energy as well. I've never seen such a thing before." Unohana sat checking all of Ichigo's vitals.

"I told you I'm fine, so will you please let Yamamoto know so we can have this trial." He stated annoyed crossing his arms while allowing his brow to crease into his usual scowl.

"Alright I will let him know, get some rest Ichigo." Unohana stood from next to Ichigo and walked out of the room without turning to look back, Orihime soon took her leave as well, leaving Ichigo and Grimmjow alone.

"You sure you're feeling alright Ichi," he stated flatly as he stood against the far wall to Ichigo's right, leaning against it with his arms crossed and one leg folded over the other.

"Yes Grimm." Ichigo turned to look at him as he stood and strode over to the blue haired man. He stopped when he was just inches from the man's face, Ichigo held onto Grimm's arms as he planted a kiss onto the pursed lips in front of him. Grimmjow relaxed beneath the kiss and was soon kissing him back. He slid his tongue along Ichigo's lower lip asking for entrance, which he was allowed, pushing in to explore the heated cavern.

They stood enjoying their make out session, but not allowing themselves to go any further, for they needed to be ready for anything tomorrow. Grimmjow kept his thoughts swirling in the back of his mind. _The one that is still here seems be much stronger than the one who attacked me and Ichigo, if that is true it is going to take the efforts of several captains combined to bring them down._

They went to bed exhausted from the events of the day. They would need to rise early for the trial, which they had no idea what the outcome would be. On one hand Grimmjow was furious he wanted whoever that person was to die, but then again the figure had saved Ichigo and what he could figure his life as well. It had not been the figure in the black hoodie to cause all of the destruction within the soul society, but they were both somehow connected it seemed and keeping at least one under their control was a big accomplishment.

Both Ichigo and Grimmjow would just have to wait and see what would happen at the trial tomorrow, both on the fence about what was to happen to the figure confined in the dungeons.

In the dungeons the winds howled from just outside the lit dungeon cell. Captain Sui-Feng and Captain Abari stood just outside the bars keeping a watchful eye on the figure who now sat below the window quietly, it almost seemed as if they were asleep, but of course the figure was still wide awake preparing for the events of tomorrow.

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 **Hey guys thanks again for reading this far! I have been super busy lately and it took me some time to get this written out. The fight scenes were a struggle to write because I don't feel like I provided enough detail, let me know what you think! I will probably go to updating a chapter every month, so heads up for that! Thanks again for reading, write me some reviews guys, love to hear your thoughts!**


	4. Trial of Deterrence

_They went to bed exhausted from the events of the day. They would need to rise early for the trial, which they had no idea what the outcome would be. On one hand Grimmjow was furious he wanted whoever that person was to die, but then again the figure had saved Ichigo and what he could figure his life as well. It had not been the figure in the black hoodie to cause all of the destruction within the soul society, but they were both somehow connected it seemed and keeping at least one under their control was a big accomplishment._

 _Both Ichigo and Grimmjow would just have to wait and see what would happen at the trial tomorrow, both on the fence about what was to happen to the figure confined in the dungeons._

 _In the dungeons the winds howled from just outside the lit dungeon cell. Captain Sui-Feng and Captain Abari stood just outside the bars keeping a watchful eye on the figure who now sat below the window quietly, it almost seemed as if they were asleep, but of course the figure was still wide awake preparing for the events of tomorrow._

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Trial of Deterrence

The hours just before dawn were devoid of life. The quiet stillness served only to amplify the silence, not even the crickets chirped their usual song. Ichigo and Grimmjow trudged their way through the streets not wanting to disturb the silent ambience of the morning air. Each step was taken with tense muscles ready to fight at any second, this intruder had shaken their confidence in the security of the Seireitei, not only had both intruders gone undetected in the soul society but the damage they caused was catastrophic and seemed almost effortless. Ichigo took in a long breathe and let out a quiet sigh, _What kind of power do these people possess? They caused so much damage while having zero spirit energy, is that even possible?_

Ichigo was starting to become lost in his thoughts when Grimmjow grabbed his slightly shaking hand as they continued to walk. Ichigo turned his head slightly to see Grimmjow having a small look of concern cover his face. Ichigo just let a small half smile cross his lips to give Grimmjow some reassurance that he was going to be fine. In truth, he just wanted this trial over and that person killed, then he might rest a little easier. The darkness of the night was beginning to lighten as the sun drew closer to the horizon symbolizing the start of what Ichigo hoped would be a short trial, but of course considering this person was of unknown power and origin, there was just no way this trial would be short. They continued to walk in silence Grimmjow still holding Ichigo's hand. They turned the final corner to see the rest of the captains walking in to squad one's headquarters just before the sun peeked over the horizon. Everyone walked with their muscles tense ready to fight.

The intruder locked in the dungeons had caused no disturbance through out the night and that had done little to calm anyone's nerves, in fact, it probably made everyone all the more on edge. Ichigo and Grimmjow walked up next to Renji and Rukia standing next to the entrance in a somber silence. Both had their gaze to the ground, Renji had his arms crossed over his chest while Rukia had her's tucked behind her back.

"How was the prisoner last night?" Ichigo whispered to Renji as he and Grimmjow stood still holding hands. It was a simple gesture but having Grimmjow holding on to him served as a solid anchor for Ichigo whenever he needed someone.

Renji blinked and let out a slow sigh as he turned his gaze up to look at Ichigo. "It was weird Ichigo, they just sat there under the window unmoving. The air all around the dungeon got really cold and dense, it was like the air itself weighed you down making it hard to move." His eyes showed a slight glimpse of fear as he let the words cross his lips. "I don't know what this person is entirely capable of but, something tells me that if they really wanted to escape last night, they could have."

Ichigo looked at his friend with concern, it did make sense that this person seemed powerful enough to escape easily on their own if they really did want to but, Kido seemed to be keeping them from going anywhere.

"Hey calm down Renji, they're bound by Kido right now so they're not going anywhere." Ichigo placed his hand on Renji's shoulder as a form of reassurance while the other gripped Grimmjow's hand even tighter. Grimmjow stepped closer to Ichigo and whispered into his ear, "We better get in there, and would you stop gripping my hand so tight I don't need a broken hand."

Ichigo turned around to give Grimmjow his usual scowl but, realized he was right and the sooner they got in, the sooner this trial would be over. He let out a sigh and ran his free hand through his spiky orange hair then gestured his head in the direction of the door and began walking in with Grimmjow in tow and Renji and Rukia following right behind.

The room was quiet, everyone stood in their usual positions but this time lieutenants were permitted to stand with their captain in case something were to go wrong, which everyone assumed was bound to happen. All were present except for Captain Zaraki and Captain Kurotshuchi who were responsible for bringing the prisoner up from the dungeons. Yamamoto sat in his usual seat at the head of the formation, waiting patiently for this prisoner to be brought before him. His lieutenant stood just behind his right shoulder while his zanpakuto was tightly gripped laying across his lap. Everyone stood on edge just waiting for the trial to begin, the air was tense and the quiet rustle of breathes seemed as loud as a shout in those drawn out moments for what was only a mere five minutes felt like an eternity.

When the doors finally opened every head turned to face the being pushed between the two captains. Mayuri held his usual grin as he continued to glance back and forth between the captains and the prisoner. His thoughts were racing as to what experiments he would be allowed to perform on such a fascinating subject. Kenpachi held his own attention not bothering to look in any set position, his usual boredom was replaced with an intense yearning to battle this being to see who was truly the better soldier. The prisoner held no particular interest to the intense situation created in the room, they seemed rather bored in fact. Their bare feet made small pattered noises as they moved along the wooden floor. The Kido still binding their movement from the waist up. The hood still remained keeping the figures face completely undiscovered.

Once the trio reached the center of the room the two captains bound the prisoner's feet to a pair thick chains restraining their movement even more to less than a side step in any direction. The chains were buried deep under the floor to hold tightly to whatever form of escape the figure dared to try. Kenpachi and Mayuri stepped away from the prisoner, moving to stand in their usual spot in the two column formation, their lieutenants standing quietly to their right. Now was time for the trial to begin.

A few breathes went by before Yamamoto began with the interrogation, his voice bellowed with stern determination. "Who are you?"

The room remained quiet, the captains' eyes all locked onto the figure before them just waiting for any movement. The figure stood quiet, showing no signs of choosing to answer the question laid before them.

"I will ask again, who are you and what do you want?" Yamamoto asked again, not only two minutes into the trial and everyone could see his patience was wearing thin.

Again the figure stood unmoving showing no signs of answering.

"If you will not talk, then we deserve to at least see your face." He bellowed and with a small nod Sui-Feng walked over and with a swift jerk of her hand the hood fell behind the figures neck revealing their face.

Ichigo stood not fully interested in how this trial would go but upon the hood falling behind a small slender neck his eyes could not move as he gazed over the figure before him. The figure stood to be 5'7", their feet clean despite not wearing any shoes, the calf muscles were lean and even though they were relaxed it was easily known that they were quick and ready to move at any moment. The white board shorts hung lose down to the knee so maneuverability was unhindered, and the black sweatshirt remained covered by the many circles binding any movement. Their hands had remained inside the hand pouch and as he looked at the face before him shock spread through his body making him unable to even voice a sound as he looked upon a slender face with high cheekbones, a scar ran from the center of the right cheek down to the center of the right side of their neck. The eyes, the right was of golden color shining brightly from the light of the room while the left was two-thirds the same golden color and the other third a shiny metallic silver that seemed to melt to the form of the iris. They were unwavering, unforgiving, and completely devoid of any life fluttering across them. Then there was bright blue spiky bangs that were mostly parted to the right and the rest was pulled back into a ponytail that ended at the base of her neck.

Ichigo was completely at a loss for words, his mouth was dry, he couldn't blink. Grimmjow to the right of him let out a soft gasp, his face resembling Ichigo's.

"Kyler…"

Even though it was just a whisper, the sharp gasps around the room were more like screams as they all took in the figure before them. "Kyler is that you?"

The figure took one blink then turned their head just enough to where those glowing eyes stared right at Ichigo and Grimmjow. Ichigo looked back into those eyes that seemed so empty, he couldn't believe it, was it really Kyler or was this just some spirit sent to torture him and Grimm. The figure tilted their head in slight curiosity as she continued to bore her eyes into the both of them, then just like that she turned her gaze back to Yamamoto.

The captains around the room were in just as much shock as Ichigo and Grimmjow, all except for Yamamoto.

"Child if you will not answer my questions then you will die a slow death." His voice was unwavering and didn't seem to be affected by the girl who stood before him, or the fact that most of his captains believed to know this person.

A burst of laughter flooded the room, it was a chilling laugh that filled the room with mockery as the girl before them let her beautiful alto voice flood the ears of every being in the room. A creepy smile spread across her face as her voice reverberated off the walls. As the laughter died down her voice zipped through the space as she replied to his proclamation.

"You have no grounds for which to punish me, if not answering a stupid question is cause for my execution, then the governance of this society is one I choose to ignore. As for my name, it's Kye."

Her voice carried no emotion, there was no anger, no sadness, and no respect. Ichigo looked on in shock this girl before him was Kyler there was no mistake, but she seemed so different if not for the feeling in his gut, he wouldn't know the person standing before him mocking the rules of the soul society.

"Watch your tongue there girl, you should show respect to your elders when you talk."

She let out a small hmph of indifference to Yamamoto's words. The surrounding captains were slowly coming back from their initial shock and were rejoining in to the conversation before them. Grimmjow and Ichigo on the other hand stood as frozen as statues just watching the girl before them act as if she had no idea who they were.

"What are you doing here Kye?" Yamamoto asked.

"I felt the energy of the intruder you stumbled upon, I came to take care of it. I did not suspect anyone would be able to take him down, and when I arrived I was not surprised to the amount of damage he had caused."

Her tone was unwavering and crystal clear, she spoke with precision letting no random sputters of words cross her lips. She was direct and blunt with her words avoiding aimless sentences that would slow the interrogation.

"Why would you come to stop him, and where were you that you could as you say, feel the energy?"

"That intruder was an old acquaintance of mine, his personality became destructive a few years ago and I have been meaning to find him and put an end to him. As for where I was, I don't believe that is something you need to know."

"You expect us to believe you?" Toshiro spoke out, "How do we know you're not in league with this person since you both seem to possess the same kind of abilities."

Kye turned her head to face Toshiro as she answered his question.

"If I was in league with him why would I try to kill him, save the captain and lieutenant I found on the brink of death upon my arrival, and why would I stay here and let myself be captured."

"Let yourself be captured, ha, if you could escape you would have done it already." Toshiro stated matter of factly.

"Toshiro that's enough," Yamamoto interjected. "Kye why are you here?"

"The man who attacked you will be back, he is not one to let something go, he is out for blood and I am willing to stop him. You do not seem capable of dealing with him since you don't even understand his abilities. I came to put an end to a threat, that is all." She let her words linger sinking into the thoughts of everyone around.

"Why does this man want to kill any of us?"

There was a long pause as Kye stared blankly at the head captain her eyes never leaving his movements.

"He believes soul reapers to be unworthy gods, as to why or how he came to that conclusion I do not know, but you are not prepared to fight him, and I am willing to stay here and protect you until he is dead, but you need to let me go." She stated with more force on the last few words.

"We could just keep you in the dungeons until we see him again, there is no reason for us to let you go, or subjugate ourselves to letting you protect us from what we presume was once a friend of yours."

"You miss understand me, captain" she announced in a flat tone, "I was not asking for your permission."

With her last words the Kido burst from her unmoving body shattering to the ground below, the chains around her ankles began to glow as if under extreme heat and melted off her feet onto the ground below before quickly harding back.

"You couldn't stop him, what makes you think you could stop me. I've played nice allowing myself to be held down like some animal while you asked your questions, if I wanted any of you dead I would have done it already. I can either stay here and help you understand what you are dealing with, or I can leave and let you attempt to deal with that problem on your own. I certainly have other things I would rather be doing."

All swords were drawn and directed at the now unbound prisoner. Despite breaking through the chains and Kido effortlessly, Kye made no move against any of them, the gesture was more of a demonstration to how powerless the soul reapers were against her.

"If it will set your mind at ease I will willingly allow your science division to perform experiments to better understand my abilities. In exchange all I ask is to be treated as just another member of the soul society." Her voice was calm yet stern. The offer Kye laid before them had Mayuri practically bouncing up and down with joy, his eyes sparkling as he stared at the most intriguing specimen to date. The other captains around the room refused to move their weapons until Yamamoto made the final decision. They were all ready to fight this threat to protect themselves and the soul society.

Yamamoto sat quietly his face revealing no sign as to what he was thinking. Ichigo was slowly coming back from his state of shock, blinking his eyes quickly to wake him from this nightmare that seemed to be playing out in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried what was here was real. Kyler was alive, she was standing right in front of him, it couldn't be anybody else, no one other than Kyler had Grimmjow's bright blue hair, pair that with the same golden eyes Ichigo had when hollowfied there was no doubt it was her. Ichigo felt a subtle warmness encompass him, all those years of searching and not knowing what happened to her, here she was right in front of him. Ichigo stared at her face as wave after wave of questions began to overwhelm his thoughts, _what happened to her during the fire at her school, where has she been for the past ten years, why did she not come find them, what has she been through, does she even recognize us, how is she going to react to finding out both parents are members of the soul society, how did she get that scar on her face?_ The last question stuck out particularly in his mind and filled him with rage, who or what had hurt his daughter, who had dared to injure her? Ichigo's face began to form a hostile scowl that was directed right at Kye, he hadn't bothered to stop staring. Kye stood before him, threatening the place he now called home, and Ichigo had the nerve to think who could have hurt her?

Yamamoto kept his gaze fixated on Kye as he contemplated his options, "I will agree to your terms but with a few added conditions. A captain or lieutenant must be with you at all times and when asked questions about yourself you will respond fully to these questions."

Kye stood focused on every word the head captain placed before her, as if searching for any double meaning or slight of hand behind his words. After a silent moment Kyler sighed dropping her gaze for a long intake of breathe, then returned her gaze, "I will accept your terms."

Yamamoto nodded his agreement and waved his hand for everyone to sheath their swords. "Mayuri, take Kye with you back to your lab, since we have a whole day ahead of us I want you to get started with your experiments and analyzing Kye's abilities."

"Oh certainly!" Mayuri looked like a little kid ready to pee his pants from all the excitement.

It was only at this moment that Ichigo found his voice, "Wait a second captain, shouldn't we allow Kye a while to recover from being in the dungeons, we agreed to treat her like another member of the soul society, we would never send someone to Mayuri's lab so easily."

Everyone stopped to look back at Ichigo who held firm to his usual scowl and defiant attitude, even Grimmjow stared back at him with a hint of smugness across his face. Yamamoto had just risen from his seat and glared at Ichigo before he let out a sigh, "You're right Captain Kurosaki, I will allow Kye until noon to recover, but since you spoke up Ichigo, you will be responsible for keeping an eye on her until then."

Ichigo nodded his agreement to the head captain's words, then everyone began to file out of the meeting room to go about their usual duties. There was still a bit of tension in the air since no one trusted Kye, but the tension was lighter than before the trial so no one bothered to look over their shoulder at their new guest as they left. Grimmjow remained by Ichigo's sighed staring at Kye as if she was still just a ghost. Her stance was casual and relaxed, but Grimmjow and Ichigo stood their bodies shaking from the nerves of either one of the happiest moments of their lives or a painful truth that would crush a hope they've held onto for so long. Kye remained unmoving allowing everyone to leave the room before turning towards Ichigo and Grimmjow waiting for them to speak.

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 **Thanks for reading this far! Hey guys sorry it has taken me so long to update school has been really heavy with projects and I just haven't had the time to sit down and actually write. I know this chapter is quite short but I had so many different ideas about how I wanted this to go. I will more than make up for it in the next chapter! Please do drop a review for me whether negative or positive (let me know of some ideas you may have) it is encouraging to get reviews so please do! Thanks again for reading this far and I will get the next chapter out as soon as I can!**


	5. Who Are You

_It was only at this moment that Ichigo found his voice, "Wait a second captain, shouldn't we allow Kye a while to recover from being in the dungeons, we agreed to treat her like another member of the soul society, we would never send someone to Mayuri's lab so easily."_

 _Everyone stopped to look back at Ichigo who held firm to his usual scowl and defiant attitude, even Grimmjow stared back at him with a hint of smugness across his face. Yamamoto had just risen from his seat and glared at Ichigo before he let out a sigh, "You're right Captain Kurosaki, I will allow Kye until noon to recover, but since you spoke up Ichigo, you will be responsible for keeping an eye on her until then."_

 _Ichigo nodded his agreement to the head captain's words, then everyone began to file out of the meeting room to go about their usual duties. There was still a bit of tension in the air since no one trusted Kye, but the tension was lighter than before the trial so no one bothered to look over their shoulder at their new guest as they left. Grimmjow remained by Ichigo's side staring at Kye as if she was still just a ghost. Her stance was casual and relaxed, but Grimmjow and Ichigo stood their bodies shaking from the nerves of either one of the happiest moments of their lives or a painful truth that would crush a hope they've held onto for so long. Kye remained unmoving allowing everyone to leave the room before turning towards Ichigo and Grimmjow waiting for them to speak._

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Chapter 5 Who Are You?

The room around Ichigo was beginning to spin as he looked at Kye while his mind raced through all the emotions that had been flooding through him over the past hour. His breathes were short and quick rapidly increasing his heart rate to where he thought he might pass out from the shock. He shook himself slightly trying to regain his grip on reality enough to where he could hold a conversation with the person in front of him. Taking a couple deep breathes to calm himself seemed to stop the room from spinning. After taking one last deep breathe with his eyes closed to focus on his heart rate, Ichigo opened his eyes to direct his attention to Kye.

The morning light gleamed through the open doorway of the exit shinning brightly on the once shrouded figure. The sun seemed to radiate from her body into a warm and subtle glow as she looked at him with a blank face. Her body was completely relaxed and her breathing was even, if Kye was feeling any of the emotions Ichigo was, she did a spectacular job hiding it. She was facing both Ichigo and Grimmjow with little interest, her face showed no sign of emotion and her eyes seemed to peer through Ichigo's soul without so much as a small reflection back. Ichigo wondered what would be the first thing he would say to his beloved daughter, was this even the same girl he once knew? The girl who used to run into his arms and hug him like he was the greatest person in the world. The little troublemaker who always seemed to know just the right prank to make him crazy.

While Ichigo seemed to be lost in his thoughts Kye began to walk towards the both of them, ever so casually, almost as if greeting a couple of old friends. When she stopped right in front of Ichigo, who pulled himself out of memories to question what he should say first, she held out her right hand in a gesture of thanks.

"I guess a thank you is in order," her alto voice vibrating through the air so delicately. Ichigo shook her hand, feeling her subtle warmness for the first time in ages making the room once again rapidly spin around him. All he could do was nod his head awkwardly in response. "But it really didn't matter to me, in truth the sooner I can get this done and get out of here the better."

She returned her hand to her sweatshirt pouch and sighed as her head turned to face the sun, allowing it's gentle heat to spread across her face. She seemed distracted in the way she viewed the morning sun, but did not let her thoughts distract her from the present conversation. Grimmjow, who had been experiencing the same roller coaster as Ichigo, found his words before Ichigo could ask his first question.

"Kyler, do you know who we are?" He asked his voice gentle. Ichigo hadn't heard that gentle voice since…well since Kyler had disappeared. Hearing it now only reminded Ichigo of more memories when he would watch Grimm and Kyler play soccer outside, or the times in which he tried to teach her how to fight…

Kye returned her gaze to the two of them before she answered. "Yeah I know who you are. You're Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez former sixth espada during the war with Sosuke Aizen now lieutenant to Ichigo Kurosaki who was once substitute soul reaper during the time you met, fought, and eloped."

What little glimmer of hope had shown in Grimmjow's eyes completely faded in that moment when her response didn't include the word Dad or Blue. His face fell just barely before he quickly recovered, "That's not what I meant, I meant do you **know** who we are to you?"

"You referring to the fact that you are my parents."

Grimm and Ichigo's faces lit up as Kye spoke that sentence. There faces delighted to know that their daughter did, in fact, remember them. Kyler's tone and body language however, had not changed since the conversation started.

"So…you really do remember us Kyler?" Grimmjow asked making a move forwards to wrap her in a big hug, which he thought would last forever. As Grimm stepped forward Kyler backed away her face showing a brief sign of curiosity before resuming it's normal pose of indifference.

"Woah there, just because I said I remember you doesn't mean a thing."

Grimmjow looked at her as if she had just spoken like some nut job who had no idea which way was the sky or the ground. His arms dropped to his sides as he stood looking at her as being a fool not to want to be in his arms.

Kye dropped her gaze sighed out a deep breathe and then returned her gaze to give her explanation that they both desperately desired. "To me, we simply share the same DNA…and just because we share that DNA does not make either of you my parents and it doesn't make me your daughter either…You both lied to me, kept me in the dark, and then…"

Her words shook Ichigo to the core, she didn't think of Ichigo or Grimm as her parents. It was a dagger to the heart that he did not expect. Then she had found out about both of them being soul reapers, and not even from them, that must have been a big slap in the face. Ichigo could only imagine what it must have felt like, even when he had found out about his parents, it was still a shock. Despite her words, Ichigo did not sense any hurt from her, their was no grief or anger to her voice, she was simply telling them truths regardless of her feelings, which he had no idea what they were.

"Kyler who told you about us," Grimm asked with a pained voice his eyes now seemed cold and distant.

"No one did, I knew when I was 5… You guys would come by the school to check on me randomly or when I was at a friends house one of you guys would pop in, but you guys didn't realize I could see you and you never said anything about it, so I just assumed you would tell me when you were ready…" she huffed a small laugh, "I guess that day never came."

"Kyler what happened?" Ichigo's voice pierced through the room causing Grimm to chance a glance at him in surprise as he stepped forward. "What happened to you, tell us,"

"Hmph, the question is more what didn't happen" she let out a sigh of annoyance, "I guess one of the first questions that needs answering is what happened on the day I disappeared…let's just say that day my abilities manifested to which I had zero control and, well, you saw what happened."

Surprise spread across both their faces at the realization of a question they had asked themselves thousands of times.

"You mean you started that fire?" Ichigo asked, more or less as rhetorical rather than directed at her. They all stood quiet for a moment letting the conversation sink in before Kye turned and started walking towards the door.

"I won't explain anything else, at least not until I talk with this Mayuri character, I don't want to be repeating myself over my…condition, I guess you could call it that."

"Kyler why didn't you come home?" Ichigo asked as him and Grimm followed behind her towards the exit. "And don't be in a rush to go to Mayuri, his methods can be cruel, don't let him go too far."

Kye let out another small chuckle at Ichigo's remark. "First of all stop calling me Kyler, that little girl died a long time ago. Second, I couldn't come home, and third: Mayuri's experiments don't bother me."

Ichigo and Grimmjow looked at her with puzzled expressions to her list of answers she had given them. The cryptic message scraped the surface required to answer the question laid before her, but failed to reveal any personal opinions about them.

They followed her through the maze of structures placed like puzzle pieces leaving just enough room for the pathways. She wound her way through the labyrinth at a casual pace every so often pausing to look at the sky as if deep in thought. Kye seemed lost in her thoughts mindlessly wondering the streets, while Grimmjow and Ichigo were still digesting the conversation from earlier.

Citizens were growing louder and louder with each passing minute of the day performing their usual routines. Kye continued walking past the people not paying any mind to move out of the way, everyone else seemed to keep their distance as she passed. Her feet slid across the paths leaving no foot print of her progress. Ichigo and Grimmjow watched as every so often she would pause during her stroll, look up to the sky, and closed her eyes taking a deep breath as if enjoying the fresh air and sun's warming rays. Despite all the people dodging her path, she looked more at ease the further they kept their distance. Kye's facade might have been completely blank, but Ichigo seemed to notice a tiny cringe creep it's way through her shoulders any time someone brushed too close, now what that meant he had no idea, he could only form more questions to which he so desperately wanted answers. Kye had promised to tell everything she knew when she was asked a question, but she did not feel the need to give out her answers multiple times, once it had been said there was no need to repeat it.

Kye's stroll had taken her outside the edges of the city walls far from the people of the Soul Society. She stopped her stroll in an open area looking off into the distance of the mountain range. The grass was thin beneath her feet with loose dirt sifting across the ground with the light breeze. Grimmjow and Ichigo stood off to the side just watching, waiting patiently for time to pass. Ichigo looked over towards Grimmjow, he wondered just what the blue haired lieutenant could be thinking right now. Grimmjow's expression at first glance seemed to be completely blank, but Ichigo knew better, behind that carefree facade Ichigo could see Grimm was being torn in two different directions beneath the surface, he had seemed to come a conclusion Ichigo had no idea of what it would be though. His face bounced back and forth in expressions as one could tell him contemplating out the conversation in his mind. Even in deep thought Grimmjow still had his moments where he was nothing but adorable, it made Ichigo smile with appreciation at the adorableness standing right in front of him.

Kye stood still as stone. The light breeze blowing her soft ponytail of blue hair behind her, eyes closed to the world. She knelt down slowly to the ground, from a catchers position she gently gathered a handful of the dirt in one of her hands and alternated pouring it from one hand to the other until her hands were covered in the dirt. Grimmjow and Ichigo both looked at her with a puzzled glance wondering just what in the world she was doing playing with the dirt. A couple minutes of playing in the dirt Kye stood and turned back to Grimm and Ichigo and with a deep sigh, "Well, let's go see Mayuri, I've got nothing better to do."

Grimmjow gave a long sigh and nodded his head turning back towards the city to guide them to Mayori's laboratory. Kye began to take a step to follow behind Grimmjow when in a sudden flash she had crouched into a defensive stance left arm flexed by her hip as her hand was engulfed in red flame. The flames danced at the edges of her finger tips flickering in the breeze greedily waiting for it's target.

Ichigo and Grimmjow both reached for their zanpakuto gripping them tightly in preparation for the oncoming attack…that didn't seem to come. Kye stood still as a statue eyes closed, just listening for any signs of an oncoming attack. Ichigo and Grimmjow held fast to their katanas but puzzlement spread across their faces, what was going on, they had no clue. Kye opened her eyes yet remained in her defensive stance as the flames continued to spark along her outstretched hand. Her left eye that was once two thirds gold, was now two thirds deep red which made the silver third sparkle even brighter. Her breathing was calm, Ichigo was taken aback by the sudden change but he waited just trying to understand what attack she was waiting for. Then Ichigo felt a coldness encompass him. The frost like feeling crawled from the edges of his limbs towards the center of his being. His lungs began to scream for air, but the cold held him still, he was beginning to lose consciousness when he felt a sharp jerk pull him from his spot releasing him from the choking grip of the icy abyss. Almost immediately the world snapped back into reality causing him to heave quickly to regain the air he had lost. Crouched over with his hands on his knees looking at the ground, he felt Grimm wrap a comforting arm around him. He peaked through his bangs up to where Kye had shifted her stance and was now examining the place Ichigo had once been standing.

"What…what was that?" he asked regaining his breathe well enough to fully stand. Grimm looked at him, concern written across his face then he looked over to Kye waiting for her explanation.

She circled the small area of no more than four feet wide, wiping her hand across an imaginary surface. "That Captain, is a realm tag."

"What is a realm tag?"

"It's how people with my abilities are able to move across realms. This is where your intruder came into this realm from. Usually these tags don't last very long, for this to still be glitching here means he had an extremely high amount of energy stored in his body when he realm jumped."

"You want to explain that a little bit better, like why it almost killed me?"

"Judging by the type of energy left behind he came either from somewhere very cold in the land of the living or Perdidit Regnum. What you felt was your body being pulled through that space gap, which it appears, your body can't handle."

"Uh what are you talking about?" Grimmjow interjected gripping onto Ichigo to make sure he was still ok.

"My abilities allow me to break down energy around me at a molecular level, if I pull the energy apart in a specific manor I can pull myself across the different realms. Depending on how much energy I have stored in my body when I cross realms will leave a vacuum space for either a split second or a few days…this one in particular is flickering in and out meaning that it's about to dissipate, I thought someone was about to come through when it flickered…" she turned looking back into the city, "this is a good access point, infiltrating the soul society would be easy…I'm impressed, he's more the brawn to doing things."

"Woah woah woah hold on a second here. Your ability is to break down energy? Explain that."

She turned back to face them a smirk gracing her lips, "I will only explain it all once, so I think it would be better to explain it so your scientist can take notes."

Ichigo looked back at her with an annoyed scowl plastered across his face, Grimm's on the other hand was frustration, he looked like he would explode if she didn't start explaining herself soon. "You know she does have a point."

"Yeah I know…and it pisses me off how easily she can state a point to get out of explaining herself to us."

Ichigo nodded his agreement, but none the less they restarted their journey to Mayuri's lab.

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 **Hey guys sorry for taking so long to update, I will be in and out for the next few months because I am traveling...I am going to try to update as much as I can as I work so some chapters might be short some long. Hope you guys enjoyed this update and I will get the next one up soon! To my reviewers you guys are awesome thank you! Love hearing your thoughts!**


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